The Bet
by Ely-Baby
Summary: During their last year at Hogwarts, Draco and Hermione make a bet with each other. One part romance, two parts humor, and one part pure confusion. R
1. In the Room of Requirement

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, what a lucky woman, isn't she?

A/N: Oh, well, finally I found a beta-reader for this fan-fiction. I'm really happy to put it on the net. It's my first Dramione ff, so I don't know if it will be ok. I hate OOC-ness, and I did my best for keeping Hermione and Draco in their characters, but this paring is a little bit odd so if there's something wrong with them, just forgive me, will you? Well, I wanted to write something funny, but I'm not sure that it's really humorous, hope it is though.

To Halo of Darkness: Thank you a lot for beta-reading, you did a great job.

**In the Room of Requirement**

Hermione quickly climbed the stairs. Her steps echoed in the empty corridors. When she reached the Seventh Floor, Hermione leaned against the wall breathlessly. She looked to her right and to her left. When the Gryffindor seemed convinced that nobody would pass by any time soon, she stepped in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and turned towards the blank wall in front of it. 'I need to get there, I need to get there, I need to get there,' Hermione thought, barely walking up and down three times with her eyes closed.

When she opened her eyes, a satisfied smile appeared on her face as the brunette saw the door in front of her. She looked around nervously another time before opening it. Hermione entered quickly and closed the door behind her. She gazed into the room; the only source of illumination was some floating candles. A huge four-poster bed with crimson sheets and cushions was the only furniture present. The walls were covered with heavy red and green stuff. Hermione stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her waist, a pose that reminded the girl of Mrs. Weasley.

Suddenly, she heard some steps behind her. Somebody wrapped his arm around her waist and with the other, he choked her. "You are late," he whispered in her ear.

Hermione tilted her head to her left. "Really? Guess what kept me?" she said sarcastically. She then freed herself from the embrace and turned to face him, "Head Girl's duties, that – it's so funny – should be the same as yours, Malfoy, since you are Head Boy," Hermione snapped with her hands on her hips again.

Draco looked at her and rolled his eyes. "I forgot," he said nonchalantly. His blond hair was all around his face, the green tie loosened around his neck.

Hermione glared at him. "You forgot? I looked at you at dinner and you nodded back to me," she said, trying not to yell at him.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I thought you wanted to be sure that I didn't forget our date," he said smiling.

"Oh, please," she said waving a hand in front of him, "You never forget our – ahem – dates." she said matter-of-factly.

Draco looked at her naughtily. "So what do you want to do? Stay here and waste our time because I'm a bad Head Boy, or just cut it out and start to snog?"

"Oh, I'm not going to cut it out anytime soon. We had to meet the Professors in the Headmistress' Office; I stayed there with them for almost half an hour waiting for you. They dismissed me and said to come back tomorrow with you. As a result, I've lost another evening of study," she said, turning red with anger.

Draco sighed. "Ok, what do you want me to say? I'm sorry?"

"I want you to say that you will never forget about another meeting with the Professors," she said, while her eyes shined dangerously.

Draco rolled his eyes again. "I swear that I'll never forget about another meeting with the Professors," he said lazily. Hermione glared at him and opened her mouth to complain. "Now that I promised," he said before she could speak, "What about a happy hour?" Hermione didn't move but couldn't help smiling. Draco decided that it was the right moment to stop talking and begin to have fun. He stepped towards her and started to kiss her fiercely. Hermione kissed him back. He took another step in her direction causing her to move back. When they reached the bed, Hermione sat on it while Draco straddled her. They were still kissing passionately when they started to undress.

The bed was perfect, but they already knew that; they had tested it since before Christmas and now it was almost March. It was so easy to find an excuse for getting there. Hermione's favourite justifications when Harry, Ron and Ginny asked her what she had to do were that she had to go to the library, the classic excuse, or that she had some Head Girl's duties. That worked really well, especially when she used her bossy tone. Draco just looked at Crabbe and Goyle and said that he would be out for a while. They didn't ask him and he didn't lie.

Their seventh year began with so many surprises that both Hermione and Draco thought that nobody could have tolerated knowing about their relationship, so they weren't so keen to tell anybody at all. Hermione was sure that none of her friends would have talked to her ever again, and Draco didn't want to let the Slytherins know that he was fancying a Mudblood.

Anyway, that year, there had been so many changes. First, Harry, Ron and Hermione had returned to Hogwarts after only a week of searching for the Horcruxes. The Ministry of Magic wasn't so pleased on having two young wizards and a witch searching for Voldemort, so they decided to let the Trio come back to Hogwarts and keep the quest in great secret. Then, McGonagall had been made Headmistress and, in the meantime, she kept teaching Transfiguration, while Professor Lupin had returned as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Slughorn kept teaching Potions. Finally, Draco had returned to Hogwarts, too. He had to hide from Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and especially his aunt, who considered him a traitor. Last, but not least, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had been made Head Girl and Head Boy a month after school started. They had both been quite surprised about that, and weren't looking forward to starting their jobs. Hermione was happy, of course. Since she had made Head Girl, she hadn't found loads of time to help Harry and Ron with the quest for the Horcruxes. Draco, on the other hand, wasn't expecting to become Head Boy at all after his attempt to kill the previous Headmaster, and he had started to think that Professor McGonagall had done it just to keep an eye on him, something that annoyed him quite a lot.

The Head Girl and the Head Boy had to spend at least five days a week together for discussing 'school problems' and making decisions, or for meeting with the Professors. For Hermione and Draco, it was almost like a punishment at the beginning, but after a couple of months, they started to enjoy their duties and the time they spent together, until the day that they found themselves snogging in a broom closet. Hermione had the brilliant idea of using the Room of Requirement as their 'private room' and they met there almost every evening since before Christmas.

Now while their naked bodies were clutched in the bed, neither one could believe that the right person has always been in front of them and they had never seen it. Hermione moaned as she reached her climax and leaned down on her back next to Draco. She took the crimson sheet and covered her body until over her breasts, while Draco lied down next to her, bare-chested. They were both breathing heavily; their faces were quite red and the pair had a dreamy expression in their eyes. Hermione turned her head towards him and smiled, "Wow, you have been great, Malfoy," she said caressing his stomach with the top of her fingers.

Draco smiled, "I'm sure I have," he said placing his arms under his head. Hermione cleared her throat and looked at him as if she was waiting for something. "You were, too. Not as great as me, but you have been quite good," he said indifferently.

Hermione stopped stroking his belly. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked Draco up and down. "Excuse me?" she said raising her eyebrows.

Draco looked at her amused. "Oh, come on, Granger. I'm the best for sure."

"What do you mean? That I'm not as good as you are in bed?" she asked glaring at him.

"Oh, well, you are good, but if I have to tell the truth, I'm better than you," he said smiling.

"Oh really?" she said sarcastically.

"Hey, it's not your fault, though, I'm sure I had more experiences than you did," he said matter-of-factly.

"You – what? Do you think that I'm only a little bookworm know-it-all with bushy hair and with no interests but being the first of the class?" she said with a murderous glare.

Draco started to feel a little uneasy next to her. "Well, actually-"

"I've had so many boyfriends that you can't even imagine," she said cutting him off.

Draco looked at her and smiled. "I'm sure you did," he said unconvincingly, "But I've had lots of girlfriends too."

"Girlfriends?" she said laughing, "If you think that a night of sex is enough for claiming that a lovely lady is your girlfriend, then you are wrong."

Draco snorted. "Were we talking about experiences or boyfriends and girlfriends?"

"Both," Hermione said, leaning down next to him.

"Come on, then," he said turning his face towards her.

"What?" she asked, not understanding.

"Come on, list your conquests," he said looking intently to her.

Hermione blushed. "W-what? I think that it's none of your business."

"You don't want to tell me or you can't tell me because you have never had any boyfriends?" he said holding back laughter.

Hermione glared at him. "You are really unpleasant."

"I know," he said laughing.

Hermione snorted. "Well, actually I had a wonderful love story with Viktor Krum, he is a famous Quidditch player and has been the Durmstrang's champion in our 4th year – oh wait, but I think that you know him – by name at least," she said sarcastically.

Now it was Draco's time to glare. "Ok, Granger, very funny. Then?"

"Then what? It's your time to speak," she said, smiling.

"What? What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"I said one and now it's your turn. You have to tell me one of your girlfriends if you want me to continue," she explained.

Draco looked at her surprised. "You are quite clever, Granger."

"I know," she said smiling.

Draco cleared his throat. "Pansy Parkinson."

"Pansy Parkinson?" asked Hermione, laughing at the same time.

"What?" asked Draco annoyed, "She doesn't shine for her intelligence, but she is a very nice slut. Your turn," he said trying to talk over Hermione's laughter.

Hermione regained her composure and took a deep breath. "I've spent some wonderful evenings with Cormac McLaggen."

"Who? Don't tell me that it's that stupid guy, who used to join your Slug Club last year?" said Draco looking at her.

"Actually he is not stupid at all," lied Hermione remembering that she was running away from him the very first time that they went out together, "What about you?"

"Millicent Bulstrode," he said without looking at her.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Wow, you have a great taste for women. I'm starting to feel a little bit underestimated."

"Hey, do you have something against my ex-girlfriends?"

"Nothing," she said giggling.

"Better for you, because I don't reckon that your boyfriends were all that good," he said defiantly.

"Are you jealous, Malfoy?" she asked him smiling.

"Dream on. You only had those two?"

Hermione snorted. "What do you think about Justin Finch-Fletchley?"

"Who?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "He is in our year, in Hufflepuff and-"

"Hufflepuffs don't count," said Draco quietly.

Hermione widened her eyes. "What? Hufflepuffs don't count? Who are you to rule that?"

Draco smirked. "Ok, Hufflepuffs count, but I hope that he is the only one."

"He is," said Hermione trying not to laugh, then she looked at Draco waiting.

He sighed. "I forbid you to laugh," he said, glaring, "Lavender Brown."

"Lavender?" she asked raising her back from the bed. "When?"

"A couple of years ago," he said matter-of-factly, "But it lasted only a week; she already had a thing for your Weasley friend."

"Only a week? Did it last longer with Pansy and Millicent?" she asked, surprised.

"Actually," he said seriously, "With Millicent, it lasted for almost a month and I have not yet managed to get Pansy out of my way."

"What do you mean? That you and she still hang out together?" she asked looking at him.

Draco smirked. "Are you jealous, Miss Granger?"

"Me? Jealous of Pansy Parkinson? Rubbish," she said blushing.

"Oh, of course," he said sarcastically, "Then?"

Hermione snorted again. "Seamus Finnigan."

This time Draco just nodded. "Padma Patil."

Hermione almost choked, but didn't say anything about that. "Now if you are going to laugh, I swear that I'll leave you here alone."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Why should I laugh? He can't be worse than that Hufflepuff boy, can he?"

Hermione lowered her eyes, suddenly interested in her hands. "Neville Longbottom," she murmured.

"What?" asked Draco leaning down.

"Neville Longbottom," she repeated louder.

Draco looked at her. "And you dared to laugh at Pansy and Millicent!"

Hermione turned a bright magenta colour. "W-well he had a crush on me and I-I felt sorry about him, he was always all alone and-"

"Yeah, yeah," Draco cut her off. "You have been such a nice girl, poor little Longbottom would have end up with nobody else. Lucky he found you," he said and couldn't help but to laugh.

"Oh shut your mouth," she said hiding her face under the sheet. Draco's laughter faded away only some minutes later. Hermione looked at him, "Have you finished?" she asked sourly.

Draco nodded, "Marietta Edgecombe."

Hermione emerged from under the sheet. "Was that before or after her little pustules problem?"

"Before," said Draco calmly, "Although she did ask me out last year. You did really a good job with her face; I cannot even look at her," he said amused.

"I didn't do anything to her face, she did all by herself. If she didn't be the sneak, she wouldn't have the word on her face," she said matter-of-factly.

Draco smiled, "A point for you," he said. Hermione didn't answer. "Will you go on, Miss Granger?" asked Draco calmly.

"Actually, Malfoy, I've already listed," she counted on her fingers, "Five boys. Aren't they enough?"

"They will be enough if they are all the boyfriends you have had," said Draco smirking.

"Actually there is still one to go," she said twisting her hands.

"Well?" asked Draco raising his eyebrows.

"Ron Weasley," she said simply.

Draco seemed a little bit taken aback. "Weasel? When?"

"Last summer, I spent all the summer at his house. Well I've spent lots of summers at his house, but the last one has been quite funny," she said thoughtfully.

"Funny?" he asked in a high tone of voice, "But everything ends up all right between you two?"

Hermione looked at him, "Why are you asking that? Do you feel threatened?" she asked and couldn't help smiling.

"What? Don't talk rubbish," he said flushing a little.

"It's your turn," she said giggling.

"Well as you spoke about that Weasley boy – Ginny Weasley," he said without looking at her.

Hermione looked at him, "You're joking!"

"No," he said simply.

"Ginny Weasley? Our Ginny Weasley from Gryffindor?"

"How many Ginny Weasleys do you know?"

"No, I can't believe that. You said her just because I said that I've been with Ron!"

"No, I've been with her. I swear," he said seriously.

"When?"

"At the beginning of this year," he said, then added quickly, "Oh, come on, Granger, she is a little slut, isn't she? How many boyfriends have she had in the few years?"

"Well, she is not a slut, she is just – well – expansive," she said unconvinced.

"Yeah, same thing," said Draco nonchalantly.

"No it's not!" she protested.

"Ok, ok, she is not a slutty girl. Now will you please go on?"

"I can't," she said quickly.

"Why?"

"I told you, Ron was my last one," she said seriously.

"Luckily," said Draco.

"What? Luckily?" she asked, not understanding.

"Yeah, because Ginny Weasley was my last one too," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione smiled relaxingly, "We're even, then."

"Yeah, but I don't want to be," said Draco annoyed.

"Oh, poor little Drakey, he doesn't want to be even with bookworm Granger," she said imitating Pansy's voice.

"Yeah, you're right," he said glaring at her, "What do you think about a little bet?"

Hermione looked at him, "What are you talking about? I do not understand."

"Exactly what I said: a bet."

"What kind of bet?"

"I bet that I can find another girlfriend before you can find a boyfriend," he said looking at her.

"What do you mean?"

"We will have to win somebody's heart before the other does it," he said thinking hard.

"You are completely mad," said Hermione taking away the sheet and trying to rise from the bed, but Draco held her back.

"Oh well, I understand if you don't want to do it because you are sure that you are not going to win," he said sharply.

Hermione glared at him, "Don't be clever with me. I'm not so stupid. I just don't have time for these things."

"As you prefer, but I'm sure that I would have win," he said nonchalantly, standing up from the bed and starting to put his clothes back on. Hermione looked at him from the bed, then stood up and started to put on her robe.

"Ok, I'm in," she said after a while.

Draco turned towards her and smirked, "I was sure. Well, let me think who you have to make fall for you."

"What? I thought that I would have chosen him," she protested halfway through her shirt.

"And where would the fun be, then?" he asked thinking hard, "You know it would be funny to see you trying to kiss Potterhead."

"First of all, Harry is my friend and his name is Potter. Second, don't you dare!"

"Hmm, you're right; he is your friend so it would be too easy," he said thoughtfully, "Let me think – oh yes," he said suddenly realizing something, "I found the right man for you; a real man, handsome, intelligent, ni-"

"Cut it out," she said waving a hand in front of him.

"Crabbe," he said simply.

Hermione burst into laughter, "Funny, really. Now seriously."

"I'm happy that you think it's funny because the man that you will have to make fall for you is Vincent Crabbe of Slytherin," he said trying not to laugh.

"I want to change it," she protested.

"You can't," he said smiling.

"You are awful," she hissed causing Draco to smile even wider.

"I'm a Slytherin."

Hermione breathed deeply and glared at him, then she seemed to calm down and smiled, "Well, actually I was thinking about a Hufflepuff girl for you, such as Hannah Abbott or Susan Bones."

Draco looked at her with fear in his eyes. Hermione tried not to laugh.

"But don't worry," she stepped next to him, threw her arms around his neck, and leaned her mouth next to his ear, "I'll tell you only two words: Luna Lovegood."

Draco's eyes opened wide, as Hermione let him go and stepped towards the door.

"That's not fair," he said turning towards her.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy, but you can't change it. Good night," she said exiting the room and leaving Draco in the middle of it.

"Shit," he murmured as he exited the door and headed for the Slytherin Common Room.


	2. Rules

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and not even Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Minerva McGonagall, Gregory Goyle… Okay, I think you got the point.

A/N: Well, there's not much to say about this chapter, but as everybody knows I love to write Author's Notes, so I'm thinking at something of interesting to write here, but nothings comes to my brain. Let's just say enjoy the chapter!

To Halo of Darkness: Thank you very much for beta-reading, and for being so quick in sending the chapters back.

**Rules**

Hermione quickly climbed through the hole of the Gryffindor common room and ran down the stairs. She had never been late for breakfast before, but the brainy Gryffindor has studied until two in the morning and had some difficulties getting up. She sat down next to Ron and Harry and helped herself to some eggs and toast. Hermione then started to stare at the Slytherin table. However, Malfoy wasn't there and neither were Crabbe and Goyle. "Hermione," said Ron, while checking his watch, "You are late."

"I know that, Ron," she said angrily, "I had to study last night."

"Really?" asked Harry, raising his eyebrows, "Lavender and Parvati told us that you came back late."

"They never close their mouths, do they?" she asked sighing, "Well, actually I had things to do; Head Girl's duties."

"Still with Malfoy?" asked Ron sympathetically, "Poor you."

"Yeah," Hermione answered, trying to hide a smile while she looked at the Slytherin table without spotting Malfoy yet.

"What classes do you have today?"

"Potions, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Exactly like the ones that you have on Wednesdays, Ron," she answered looking around.

Ron snorted. "I was just trying to create some conversation," he said shrugging his shoulders.

"Ok, sorry," she said, absentmindedly.

"Hermione, are you ok? You seem distracted," Harry stated, looking at her with a concerned expression on his face.

"Really?" Hermione replied without tearing her eyes away from the assortment of Slytherins that entering the Great Hall.

"Yeah," Harry said, raising his eyebrows.

"Very well," the girl said when she finally saw Malfoy, followed by Goyle, Zabini and Crabbe.

"What?" asked Ron looking at her.

"Nothing," she said, standing up, "Now if you will excuse me, I have to talk to the Head Boy."

"You know," said Ron, following her with his eyes as she walked in Malfoy's direction, "If I didn't know her well, I would almost say that she enjoy spending all that time with Malfoy."

"Yeah," Harry said, looking at Hermione, "Well, let's go Ron, or we will be late for Potions," he added, standing up. Ron nodded and they headed for the dungeons. Hermione reached the Slytherin table and, with her hands on her hips, she looked down at Draco who was eating his scrambled eggs. She cleared her throat loudly. Draco looked at her.

"What do you want, Granger?" he asked her rudely.

"I have to talk to you," she mimicked his tone.

"Can't you wait?"

"No," she said firmly.

"I'm eating," he retorted, causing all his friends to laugh.

Hermione glared at him. "Never mind then; I have to talk to Miss Lovegood anyway," she said, stepping away.

Draco looked at her and stood up. "See you later," he called to his friends while running after her. He took Hermione's arm, guided her out of the Great Hall and pulled her into the closest broom closet.

"Hey," she said, with her shoulders against the wall.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I don't know," she said, smiling, "That's why I needed to talk to you."

"What do you mean?"

"We didn't decide anything last night."

"What do we have to decide?" he asked her, puzzled.

"Everything."

"For example?"

"For example, how to win the bet."

Draco looked at her. "I thought that that was clear enough. You have to make him fall for you."

"Well, that was pretty obvious," she said sharply, "But I want to know what do you mean by 'make him fall for you.' Do I have to kiss him?" she asked, horrified.

Draco smiled at the idea of watching Hermione kissing Crabbe. "That would be funny," he said, almost laughing.

"You remember that all the things that I will have to do with him, you'll have to do the same with Luna, don't you?"

"Yeah," he answered, annoyed.

"So?"

"I think that I can bear to kiss Luna 'Loony' Lovegood," he said smirking, "And I think that she mustn't be all that bad in bed."

Hermione widened her eyes. "You won't dare."

"Actually I will," he said, calmly, "But let's just say that for winning the bet you have to kiss, have sex and make Crabbe saying that he loves you."

"You are the most evil person I've ever known," she hissed.

"Thank you," he said, smiling.

"Rules?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"You cannot speak to anybody about the bet."

"As if I would," she said, sarcastically.

Draco ignored her. "You cannot use love potions or things like that."

"And I think that you will have to remember that, as well," she said seriously.

"I would never do that. I think that I have enough charm by myself without using anything like that," he said matter-of-factly.

Hermione frowned.

"You cannot tell Crabbe anything about the bet," Draco added.

"He wouldn't even understand," she said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you are right," he said quietly, "I think that that's enough."

"Just that?" Draco nodded. "I imagined that you would have said more things we can't do," she said.

"Any suggestions, Miss Know-It-All?"

"No, I'm not so stupid."

"Ok, then – Ah yes, one more thing," he said, smiling, "You have a week."

"What?" she almost screamed, "A week? But Crabbe will need a week only to understand what is happening."

"Yeah, that will be very funny," he said, laughing.

"Oh, but don't think that with Luna it will be easy at all," she said, finding a little bit of relief in the thought of Draco after Luna, "I really can't wait to see you dating her."

Draco looked fiercely at her, then he glanced at his watch and said lazily, "Well, I think that we should go now, or Slughorn will kick you out of his Slug Club."

Hermione looked at her watch and jumped. "Merlin's beard, it's terribly late," she said, pulling Draco out of her way and running out of the door in the direction of the dungeons. Draco followed her slowly. He didn't want to enter the class at the same time as Hermione. When he reached the Potions classroom door, he saw that she was waiting for him with her arms crossed.

"Well? Are you coming?"

"Why did you wait for me? You could have entered without me and-"

She waved her hand in front of his face, cutting him off. "We had Head duty, ok? We were together and will enter the classroom together." Draco snorted, but nodded. When they entered the classroom, all heads turned towards them.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, may I ask as to what kept you?" Slughorn glared at them.

"Head duty," said Draco nonchalantly.

"Very well, very well," said Slughorn smiling, "Now take your seats and turn to page 768. Today we will make Amortentia."

Hermione was eating with a book on her lap when Professor McGonagall appeared in front of her. "Miss Granger, do you remember that this evening, we have a meeting?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," she said, swallowing some bread.

"Did you find Mr. Malfoy yesterday?" she asked, looking at the Slytherin table.

Hermione looked at Draco. "Yes, Professor McGonagall, he said that he forgot about the meeting."

The Headmistress sighed. "Well, I count on you to remind him about this evening."

"Yes, Professor, don't worry," she said while Professor McGonagall turned her back towards her and walked in the direction of the Professors' table. At that very moment, Harry and Ron came along and sat down next to Hermione.

"Why didn't you wait for us?" asked Ron, helping himself to some potatoes.

"Because I want to eat quickly and then study for some time before Defence Against the Dark Arts," she responded, reading something from the book on her lap.

"Aren't you overworking yourself?" asked Harry, looking at her.

"Yeah," she answered without tearing her eyes away from the book.

"Hermione, are you listening?" asked Ron, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Yeah," she answered again absentmindedly, raising her eyes to check if Malfoy was still sitting at the Slytherin table; he was.

"Hermione, are you going to give us your Transfiguration homework?" asked Ron.

"Yeah," she answered to her book. Ron and Harry exchanged strange looks.

"I really regret taking Muggle Studies at the beginning of this year," said Ginny, sitting across from Harry.

"You took what?" asked Ron bemused.

Ginny waved a hand in front of him. "Oh, stop saying that every time. You know that dad was the happiest man on Earth when I told him that I took that subject," she said, biting into a piece of meat.

"You know, Ginny, maybe Hermione can help you. She took Muggle Studies in her third year," Harry offered.

"Really, but she is a Muggleborn," Ginny exclaimed.

"Yes, well, you know how she is," said Ron massaging his temple.

"Hermione, why don't you say something?" she glanced at the brunette.

"Yeah," she answered without even looking at Ginny.

"Are you ok?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah."

"It's all she has said. She is studying," explained Harry, pointing to the book on her lap.

"Oh," Ginny finally understood.

Hermione raised her eyes and glanced at the Slytherin table again, but she didn't spot Malfoy. The Gryffindor girl looked at the entrance and saw that he was exiting with Crabbe and Goyle. She shut her book and jumped to her feet, causing Ron to spill his pumpkin juice. "I have to go or else I will be late for Defence Against the Dark Arts class," she said, heading for the entrance.

While she was exiting, Hermione heard Ron screaming after her, "Hey, but there are still 20 minutes to go before-" She didn't mind; her mission was to find Draco and tell him a couple of things that came into her mind during Transfiguration.

"Hey, Malfoy I think that Mudblood is going to follow you everywhere," said Goyle out aloud when he spotted Hermione.

Draco stopped and turned his head towards her. Then he snorted. "Crabbe, Goyle, wait for me in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom." They nodded and left.

"Bye Vincent," Hermione waved at him, but he didn't even turn his head.

Draco smiled. "I don't think that he even knew that his name is Vincent. What do you want?" he added rudely.

"I wanted to tell you some thoughts that came to me during Transfiguration," she said smiling.

"About what?"

"Our bet."

Draco looked around and when he was finally convinced that nobody would have come in that corridor, he looked at her. "Well?"

"I thought about a couple of other 'rules.' First, you cannot transfigure yourself nor can you can use any kind of magic with Luna. Then you can't talk to Crabbe about the bet and I won't talk to Luna, even if I would like to warn her." Draco smiled but didn't say anything. "I thought that we should make the week start on Monday," she included thoughtfully.

"Why?" Draco was suspicious.

"Don't you remember? Next Saturday there will be a trip to Hogsmeade, the perfect place for developing a love story," she said matter-of-factly.

Draco looked at her and muttered something that sounded like "Girls," and nodded.

"You know, there is a thing that doesn't convince me at all."

"What?" he asked, quite annoyed.

"The fact that we have to make two people fall for us, but we don't love them back. It's quite immoral, don't you think?"

Draco tried hard not to laugh. "Immoral? I don't even know what this word means."

Hermione glared at him. "So what do we do after?"

"We simply split up with them," he said coolly.

"That's all? We just break their hearts?"

"Well, certainly Crabbe doesn't have a brain. About the heart I'm not sure," he said thoughtfully.

"I'm serious," Hermione said firmly.

"Me too," he said as serious as her, then he looked into her eyes, "Are you sure about the bet? Because if you want, you can always-"

"I'm sure," she said cutting him off, "Oh well, I should be in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom in five minutes. I'd better get a move on," she said, looking at her watch, "Remember about tonight, or else Professor McGonagall will kill us," she said before disappearing behind a corner. Draco followed her with his eyes and then sighed. Loony Lovegood was a difficult task, but he would have done anything to be better than Hermione Granger.

That evening, Draco and Hermione spent a couple of boring hours with the Professors in the Headmistress' Office, which seemed to last a couple of days instead. They then noticed that the rest of their week passed too quickly, because on Sunday night, both of them were lying on their beds and looking at the ceiling without a clue as to what they were going to do the next day.


	3. Monday

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, even if in this case I think that I should say that I don't own Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger.

A/N: Well, I knew that this story wasn't a great one, but I'm determinate to upload all the chapters that I wrote, so sorry, but the torture will go on. Anyway when I made it read to my friend she kept on laughing, but I don't know if it is as funny as I meant it to write because my friend laughs even for really stupid things. Well, hope you'll enjoy the chapter, I liked to write it.

To Halo of Darkness: Thanks a lot for beta-reading my chapter, especially for fixing the dialogue's problems.

**Monday**

"Hermione, what are you looking at?" asked Ron, following her gaze as he sat next to her in the Great Hall, "If I didn't know you better, I would almost say that you are looking at Crabbe," Ron laughed.

Hermione smiled mischievously. "Oh, Ron, sometimes you are really silly," she retorted, taking her eyes away from Crabbe and writing something on her parchment.

"What are you looking at, then?" asked Harry, absentmindedly.

"Nothing, I'm thinking," she lied.

"And what are you writing?" asked Ron, looking over her shoulder.

"Homework," Hermione said, covering it with her arm.

"What kind of-"

"Ancient Runes," Hermione cut him off, "You don't need to copy this, Ron," she said sharply.

Ron snorted and helped himself to some eggs.

"What classes do you have today?" Harry asked her, sipping his pumpkin juice.

"Arithmancy and Potions," the girl replied, once again writing something on her parchment.

"Hey, wait a moment," said Ron with his mouth full of eggs, "You don't have Ancient Runes, so why are you doing the homework then?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Ron, I'm not like you. I usually do my homework as soon as possible. Especially in these days, because I've so many thi-"

"So many things to do as Head Girl," Ron and Harry finished for her.

"Ha, ha, very funny indeed," said Hermione, sarcastically, "How is the quest for the you-know-what going?" she asked, lowering her voice.

"You mean the Horcruxes?" asked Harry aloud.

"Yeah, that," Hermione sighed, "Don't you think that a little more secrecy would be better?"

"Why? Nobody knows what the Horcruxes are," Ron remarked as he bit into an apple.

"Oh, well," snapped Hermione, "How is the quest for the Horcruxes going?" she asked so loud that some little First Year girls passing by looked at her.

Both Ron and Harry looked at her, "Well," started Harry, "not very well, actually. If you could help us a little bit more, it would be better because we are having trouble trying to find out what the 5th Horcrux is."

"Help you a little bit more?" asked Hermione calmly, "What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know; read something that will help us?" asked Harry, smiling weakly.

Hermione looked at him and smiled. "Listen Harry, I'm sorry if I'm not a big help for you right now. The problem is that I've so many things to do. Let this week pass and then I swear that after next Monday, I'll do whatever I can to help you." Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"Why starting next Monday?" asked Ron, suspiciously.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Because this week I've something to do."

"Let me guess what it is. Head Girl's Duties?"

"Exactly," she lied for the second time. She looked once again at Crabbe but he was eating. For about the next half hour, he kept on devouring everything he found on the table. For the first day, Hermione had chosen to observe her prey and write down everything he did. Until that very moment, all he had done was eat. She yawned and looked up and down the Slytherin table, searching for Malfoy.

Draco was sitting between Goyle and Zabini. In front of him, Pansy Parkinson was trying, unsuccessfully, to catch his attention. He was staring towards the Ravenclaw table at a small blonde girl with her wand stuck behind her ear. All Luna did was sit in the Great Hall, eat some eggs and read a copy of 'The Quibbler' upside down, as usual.

"Drakey, are you ok?" asked Pansy in a very annoying tone.

Draco looked at her. "Pansy, I heard that Millicent was looking for you," he said, moving his scrambled eggs around his plate with his fork.

"Really?" she asked, without interest.

"Yeah, she had something to show you," he said looking intently at her, "Something about Viktor Krum," he added, lowering his voice.

Pansy widened her eyes and jumped to her feet. "Oh, well, I think that I should find her, then, I don't want her to search for me all over the castle for nothing – where was she?"

Draco had to think of something quickly. "In the Seventh Floor," he answered, trying to remember if that was the most distant place from the Great Hall.

"Oh, I should run, then," she said, walking out of the door quickly.

Draco smirked. "Silly girl."

"What?" asked Zabini, quietly.

"Nothing," Draco replied as he looked back at the Ravenclaw table, "Where is she?" he asked, alarmed.

"Who? Pansy? You just sent her to look for Millicent on the-"

"Not her," snapped Draco. Luna Lovegood was not there anymore. She had followed a group of Ravenclaws outside the door of the Great Hall.

Draco jumped to his feet. "See you later," he said to his friends. As Draco passed in front of the Gryffindor table, he spotted Hermione who was looking at something intently. He followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at Crabbe.

'Damn it, Granger,' the Slytherin thought, 'It's easy to keep your eyes on Crabbe; when he is not in classes or he is not sleeping, he is eating. But where the hell is that Ravenclaw girl?'

Draco didn't have classes until ten o'clock. He would have used all his free time to try to find Luna and to follow her everywhere she went. The thought that Hermione had Arithmancy that morning made him feel much better. He climbed the stairs for the second floor, trying to think what kind of classes someone like Luna would have taken. Finally, he spotted her right in front of a girls' bathroom, all alone.

"What are you doing here, Drakey?" asked a girl, taking his arm.

"Get off me, Pansy," he said rudely, freeing himself.

"You know, Millicent said that she wasn't looking for me and that she didn't have anything about Krum," Pansy said, looking at him.

"Well, maybe I was wrong," Draco snapped, still looking at Luna.

"Drakey, why don't you look at me while I'm talking to you?" she asked, stepping in front of him and blocking his view.

Draco snorted. "Pansy, don't you have any classes?"

"Actually, I have Divination, but I don't want to go," she said, playing with Draco's tie.

"I think that you should go," he said, trying to look over her shoulder.

"Why? I prefer to stay here with you," Pansy said, smiling.

"That's exactly why you should go," Draco sighed.

"What do you mean?" she asked, not understanding if it was a positive or negative thing.

"I mean that your instruction is very important and you should not miss such an important class as Divination," he said, taking her by her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

"Oh, Drakey," Pansy said, with a twinkle in her eye, "You are so nice and so cute when-"

"Yeah, yeah," Draco replied, pulling her out of his way, "Now you better go." He turned towards the girls' bathroom again, but Luna had disappeared.

"That damn Pansy," he mumbled.

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" asked Blaise Zabini as he appeared next to him.

"She is always in my way," he answered, shaking his head.

"Who? Pansy?" asked Goyle, who approached them with Crabbe in tow.

"Yeah," Draco said. He then became aware of a foreign presence and looked behind them. Hermione was leaning against the wall some feet from them.

"Don't you have Herbology now?" Draco asked his friends. They all snorted as they walked past him and stormed out of the corridor. Draco stepped towards Hermione. "How are you doing?" he asked, leaning next to her on the wall.

"I'm fine. What about you?" she asked, putting away the piece of parchment on which she had taken notes about Crabbe during breakfast.

"Don't you have Arithmancy this morning?"

"Yeah," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"You better hurry up, then," he said, smiling mischievously, "I'm sorry that you cannot follow your love everywhere."

"He has Herbology and don't call him that," she said, glaring at Draco, "Anyway, what are you trying to do with Luna? It seems like you cannot even chase her," she let a small laugh escape.

"Very funny," he said sharply, "It's all Pansy's fault, I don't how she does it, but she is always a step ahead of me. She always knows where I am and what I'm doing. And she ruins everything every time."

Hermione laughed again, "I will have to thank her, then. Oh, well I have to go. See you in Potions." She stormed towards Arithmancy classroom.

"Mr Malfoy, what are you doing here?"

Draco turned to face Professor McGonagall who was standing right in front of him with her hands on her waist. "Nothing, Headmistress," he said seriously.

"Don't you have anything to do this morning?"

"I have Potions at 10 a.m."

"Very well, I think that Professor Slughorn will be glad if you won't be late for just one time," she said firmly.

"I won't," he said then he suddenly realized something, "Um, Professor McGonagall?"

She looked at him, "Yes?"

"I-I was wondering if I could have – a student asked me if I could have get from you another timetable because – well – she had lost hers," he asked hopefully.

"And why this student didn't come here to ask by herself?" she asked suspiciously.

Draco suddenly became interested in his hands. "Well because – she – well-"

"Who is this student?"

"L-Luna Lovegood," stammered Draco.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "Alright then. I can imagine why she didn't come by herself."

"Really?" asked Draco, "I-I mean, of course you do. Well, she is a little bit odd, isn't she?"

"She is particular," said Professor McGonagall, resolved, "Follow me, Mr. Malfoy." Draco followed her until the Gargoyle Statue that led to her office. "Wait here," she told him. She entered her office and five minutes later, she was back with a timetable with the name of Luna Lovegood on it. "Here you are," the teacher said, looking at him, "I was thinking, Mr. Malfoy, that is strange that Miss. Lovegood asked you to get her timetable. Isn't she friends with Miss. Granger?"

Draco gulped. "Well, you know she is strange, I don't know what-"

Professor McGonagall waved her hand in front of him. "Okay, I understand. Now I should go. Don't be late for Potions, Mr. Malfoy," she reminded, walking past him.

"I won't," he said, looking down on the timetable, "Who's the most intelligent now, Miss. Granger?" Draco asked himself, laughing so hard that he caused a group of Hufflepuffs to stop and look at him strangely. "What?" he snapped at them, before looking down again at the timetable. 'Shit,' he thought, while he was checking all her subjects. That day she had a couple of hours of Charms, then nothing until that afternoon when she had Divination and Potions; exactly the opposite of his timetable, and so on all week.

Draco had a terrible feeling. Hermione knew perfectly well what he had every day and she was Luna's friend, so she must have known her timetable as well. He tried to think about what classes Crabbe had, but he stopped right after Wednesday because all his classes matched perfectly with Hermione's classes. When he was in class, she was in class too, and when he had some spare time, she had some as well. That couldn't be pure luck, the blonde was sure of it. He decided to wait for Hermione to walk out of the Arithmancy classroom, even if there was still an hour and forty-five minutes to go before that.

Draco sat down with his back on the wall and took out his Potions book, trying to read something. However, he couldn't concentrate because he only had one thought on his mind: Hermione Granger had fooled him.

When the door of the Arithmancy classroom finally opened, the first girl to exit was Hermione. Draco jumped to his feet and took her by her arm.

"What the – Malfoy?" she asked, looking at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"I have to talk to you," he said, letting her go. A couple of Ravenclaw girls passed by and giggled while looking at them. Draco glared at them. "Head duties," he said in a loud voice so they could hear him.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Well?"

"Let's walk to the Potions classroom," he said, stepping towards the stairs, "Do you think that you are really so smart?" he asked her sharply.

"What do you mean?" she asked, bemused.

"Look at this," he said, placing Luna's timetable into her hands.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, looking at him, "You didn't steal it, did you?"

Draco snorted. "I'm much too intelligent to stealing a timetable. No, McGonagall gave it to me."

Hermione sighed. "What should I look at?"

"Look at her classes," he said, pointing at the little squares with his finger.

"Oh, my God," she said, putting a hand on her mouth in a very melodramatic gesture.

"Yeah, in fact-"

"I can't believe that she took Divination this year, too," she said, smiling.

"Yeah – what?" Draco stopped, "No, no, no. You have to look at her classes."

"It's what I'm doing," Hermione replied, sighing.

"Well, do you need to see my timetable, too?" he asked, searching between his books.

Hermione waved a hand in front of him. "No, wait – oh yeah of course. Do you mean that Luna's timetable and yours don't match very well?"

"Don't match very well? We don't have anything in common. When she has a lesson, I've nothing to do, and when I'm in class, she is not. You did it on purpose, didn't you?"

Hermione smiled. "I didn't! How could I?"

Draco glared at her. "And the fact that you have classes at the same time of Crabbe is just lucky, right?"

"Do I really? I mean, what are you talking about? You chose Crabbe for me," she protested. They climbed down the stairs and reached the dungeons.

"How can you be so lucky then?" he asked, suspiciously.

"I don't know," she said giggling, "And that's really funny."

Draco snorted. "I hate you," he hissed, causing Hermione to giggle even louder.

"Hermione," someone called her name from behind her. She jerked her head around and looked at Harry and Ron who were running in her direction. Draco automatically walked quickly to the other side of the corridor and glared at them.

"Hermione, what are you doing here – with Malfoy?" asked Ron, horrified.

"Nothing, Ron," she said nonchalantly, "I met him here. You do remember that we have Potions class together?"

"Seriously, Hermione, how can I forget that I have to spend two hours with Malfoy?" he said aloud.

Draco glared at him. "Can I remind you that I'm Head Boy, Weasley?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, and what will you do then? Give me a punishment?" asked Ron, laughing.

"How dare you?" he yelled, taking out his wand and pointing it at Ron.

Hermione quickly stepped in front of him. "Malfoy, as you have just said you are Head Boy and you shouldn't do things like that," she said with Draco's wand pointed at her throat.

"Get away, Granger," hissed Draco.

"No," she said, firmly. Draco snorted and slowly put down his wand. Ron, who was standing behind Hermione, started to grimace at Draco, but stopped when Harry elbowed him in his ribs.

"You were lucky that Granger was there to protect you," murmured Draco to Ron when he passed by to get into the Potions classroom. Ron felt the urge to punch him in the nose, but at that very moment, Slughorn arrived and started to talk about poisons.

As soon as Slughorn dismissed the class, Draco hurried out of the classroom and headed for the Great Hall. Lunch was one of the few moments when he could have seen Luna, and all he wanted to do was to eat quickly and wait for her to come. Unluckily, he was just sitting down when Pansy materialised in front of him. "Drakey? How are you?" she asked, sitting right in front of him and obscuring his view for the second time that morning.

"No, Pansy, that seat is taken," he said, taking her hand and pulling her to his right.

"Taken? I don't see any names on it," she protested.

"Well, my leg hurts me and I have to stretch it under the table," he lied, kicking Pansy's feet.

"Oh poor Drakey," she said rubbing her feet, "Do you want me to give you a massage?"

Draco smirked. "If you really insist," he said, thinking that that would have kept her occupied for a while. She started to rub his leg while Draco helped himself to some meat and mashed potatoes. Sometimes, he glanced at the Ravenclaw table and sometimes at the door.

After a quarter of an hour, the Great Hall was filled with people, but Luna was not there yet. "Where the hell is she?" Draco asked himself.

"I'm here," answered Pansy, emerging from underneath the table, "How is you leg doing? Better?"

"What the hell are you – oh my leg, of course – yeah it feels better, Pansy," he said, trying to sound convincing.

Pansy smiled and started to talk about how bad looking Lavender Brown was. Draco had to do his best to ignore her chats and concentrate on the Ravenclaw table once again. 'Where the hell is she?' he thought once more, being careful to not accidentally say it aloud.

At that very moment, Luna entered the Great Hall. She walked slowly and looked around herself with her usual dreamy look. She sat down next to Padma Patil and helped herself to mashed potatoes. It took her almost an hour to eat all she had in her plate, and by the end, it was already time for her Divination class. That afternoon, Draco wasn't able to do anything, while Hermione could have tailed Crabbe everywhere.

As Luna walked out of the Great Hall, he looked at Hermione who was laughing with Ginny Weasley.

"Drakey," Pansy waved a hand in front of him, "You know that this afternoon I have nothing to do? We can spend some time together, what do you-"

"No!" exclaimed Draco cutting her off, "I mean, I can't, you know-"

"Head Boy's duties?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll be in the Slytherin Common room, if you want to join me," she said, walking out of the Great Hall.

Draco took a mental note not to go in the Common Room until that very night. He then turned towards Crabbe and Goyle and noticed that they were still eating. 'Tsk, if Hermione wants to win Crabbe's heart, all she has to do is offer him something to eat,' he thought.

"What are you going to do this afternoon?" Draco asked them, nonchalantly.

They shrugged their shoulders. "No idea," said Crabbe.

"I think that we will follow you, wherever you will go," added Goyle.

Draco snorted; they followed him every day. "Ok, I think that I'll go to the Library. I have to study," he said, standing up. Crabbe and Goyle stood too and made their way towards the door of the Great Hall, pulling a group of first-year Hufflepuffs. They climbed the stairs until the Fourth Floor. Draco was sure that Hermione was following them, but he was also sure that she had to study for at least six hours that afternoon, since that morning she hadn't had the time.

When they sat down at a big table near the Restricted Section, Draco spotted Hermione sitting a couple of tables away from them.

"Hey, Malfoy, that Mudblood never stops to follow you," said Goyle, nodding towards her.

"Yeah," said Draco, absentmindedly.

Hermione got up and passed by them smiling widely at Crabbe, who looked at her with a dumb expression. Well, with his usual expression. Then she disappeared behind a shelf.

"I need a book," said Draco, getting up and walking to where Hermione was.

"You are making it even much too easy for me," she said, with a book in her hand.

"Really?"

"You brought him into the Library, my home," she said, smiling.

"Aren't you asking yourself why I brought him here?"

Hermione's smile faded away. "What do you mean?"

"As long as I keep him occupied, you will never know what he really likes," he said, smirking evilly.

"Oh, and that's your plan?" she asked coolly, "If you want to know what I think, it's pretty stupid. Anyway I'd better go and do my Ancient Runes homework." Hermione smiled to Crabbe again when she passed by their table. When Draco emerged from behind the shelves, his face was of an unkindly green.

They spent all the afternoon in the Library. Draco and Hermione were studying while Crabbe and Goyle were playing with some Chocolate Frog trading cards. Hermione wrote down on her parchment that Crabbe liked Chocolate Frogs, then she crossed it out; she had already written that Crabbe liked to eat whatever he found in his way. Hermione kept smiling at Crabbe for the whole day and, even at dinner, she didn't take her eyes off him.

She saw, with great happiness, that Luna arrived late at dinner and that she left after a while with a group of sixth-years. Hermione decided to go to bed early that night because she had studied all afternoon and because she had to spend some time by herself thinking about what to do the next day. 'Luckily I will be able to talk to him,' she thought, placing her head on the pillow, 'I'm going to win, Malfoy. I'm too smart for you; you didn't even get the chance to follow her.'

She closed her eyes and when, a couple of hours later, Lavender and Parvati entered the girls' dorm, they found her sound asleep and with a vague smile on her face.


	4. Tuesday

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, etc…

A/N: Well, to my few reader I hope that you'll like this chapter, in some parts I think it's really funny. I enjoy writing it. And that's a really fast update, isn't it?

To Halo of Darkness: Thanks a lot for beta-reading this chapter so quickly, you are really nice.

**Tuesday **

"Hermione! Hermione, will you please slow down a little?" asked Ron, trying to follow her up the stairs.

"Why?" she asked, absentmindedly.

"Because we have to talk to you," said Harry, running after her.

"About what?" she asked, heading for the Charms classroom. "Horcruxes?"

"Not exactly," said Harry.

"Well, what then?" she asked, stopping abruptly in front of the door of the Charms classroom.

"About you," said Ron, suddenly finding his hands very interesting.

"Me?" she asked, raising her eyebrows, "What about me?" Harry and Ron exchanged strange looks. "Well?" she asked them.

"Well, you see the problem is that – we don't how to tell you that-"

"That you spend lots of time with Malfoy and they are jealous," said Ginny, appearing next to them with Luna in tow.

Hermione burst into nervous laughter, "Don't talk rubbish, Ginny, they would never-" Harry and Ron looked at the floor, their cheeks flushed a little. Hermione glanced at them, "You would never think something like that, would you?" she asked softly.

"Actually, we are not jealous," said Harry, glaring at Ginny, "I mean if you want to spend so much time with Malfoy, you can – no, wait. I wanted to say that if you have to spend all that time with him you can do that, and we-"

"Harry, I'm not understanding a word you are saying," said Hermione, waving a hand in front of him, "Anyway I'm in this for a week. Then I'll be all yours," she said, smiling brightly. Then she turned her attention to Luna. "Hi Luna, how are you?"

"Fine, thank you," she said, looking at Hermione with protuberant eyes, "You know, I think that you and Malfoy are a really nice couple."

Hermione turned a bright magenta colour; Ginny burst into giggles; Harry was staring at Luna with his mouth half opened and Ron was choking himself.

"Really?" asked Hermione in a high tone of voice.

Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, Head Boy and Head Girl. That sounds pretty nice and all your children will be Head Girls and Head Boys."

"Hey, hey, hey," said Ron, jumping in front of Luna, "How do we come to children?"

Luna looked at him. "I don't know."

Hermione cleared her throat. "Ron, calm down, Luna was just joking, weren't you Luna?"

"No," she answered dreamily.

Ginny brought her hands to her stomach, laughing hard. "Oh no, please stop that; I can't breathe," she managed to say between giggles.

Hermione looked at her and raised her eyebrows. "What are you laughing for, Ginny? Don't you like Malfoy?" something in Hermione's tone of voice made Ginny stop and look at her.

"What do you mean?" she asked bemused. There was something going on between the girls that Ron and Harry simply couldn't understand.

"Nothing," said Hermione, smiling, "It's just that I heard some Gryffindor girls saying that Malfoy isn't that bad looking after all," she lied.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Well, he isn't actually," she replied.

"What?" asked Ron, looking at his sister with his eyes wide open.

Ginny looked at him annoyed. "He is not, after all. He is only a little bit unkind sometimes," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Unkind?" Ron asked to a speechless Harry, "Unkind?"

"Luna, what do you think about him?" asked Ginny, turning towards her.

"Well, sometimes he is a little bit dumb, but-"

"No, no, no, Luna," said Ginny, waving a hand in front of her, "I was talking about Malfoy, not my brother."

"Oh," she said simply.

Ron looked at them. "How did you know that she – dumb?"

"Oh, well, Malfoy is quite good-looking, and after he returned here at the beginning of the year he had becoming nicer, in a sort way," she said thoughtfully.

"What?" asked Hermione scandalized, "You really thing these things about him?"

"Yeah, shouldn't I?" she asked considerately.

Hermione seemed taken aback. "I don't know – no, you shouldn't." Ginny burst into giggles again.

Harry and Ron looked at them. "Girls are crazy," muttered Ron while Harry nodded in agreement.

Hermione snorted. "I better take a seat. Professor Flitwick is coming," she said, entering the Charms classroom.

"See you later," she heard Ginny telling her between silly laughter.

Hermione sat down and stared at the Professor desk in front of her. 'That cannot be,' she thought, 'I chose Luna for him, that's not right. Crabbe hates me and Luna is almost in love with him. How stupid I am.' She slammed her textbook on her desk and pulled out a quill and a small bottle of ink.

Harry and Ron sat down one on each side of her, "I can't believe that Luna and Ginny think that Malfoy is handsome," Ron said out loud.

"Yeah," answered Harry, "I can't believe that, too. I mean, we all know that Luna is a little bit odd, but Ginny, I would expect her to have better tastes."

"What did you expect? She was with you last year," said Ron, laughing.

Harry threw his Charms book at him, which flew only a couple of inches above Hermione's head. She didn't pay any attention to them; she was too busy in thinking how stupid she had been.

"Hermione, are you with us?" asked Ron, beating her softly with his finger on her head.

"What?" she asked, rubbing the spot where Ron had just beat her, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"You seem like you think a lot in these days," said Ron, throwing Harry's book back to him.

"I think as much as a normal person does," Hermione said, pulling out her wand.

"I don't think so much," said Ron, sitting next to her.

"I said a normal person, Ron," she said, smiling.

"Very funny," he answered sarcastically.

"Thank you," she said while Professor Flitwick entered the classroom and climbed onto a pile of books.

Hermione looked around her. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini were sitting at the bottom of the classroom. Zabini was almost sleeping; Crabbe and Goyle were passing something to each other, which Hermione was almost sure was something to eat; and Draco was looking at her with a smirk on his face. He was sure that Hermione looked slightly agitated, but he didn't know why. He looked away from her and tried to concentrate on what Flitwick was saying.

"Today we are going to try Freezing Charms," the professor squealed from the pile of books, "Now, I want you to choose a partner and work together. One will use the Incendio Charm, and the other one will try to freeze it with the Freezing Charm – Miss. Granger, I think that our Head Girl will be best paired with the Head Boy," said Professor Flitwick, looking at Hermione brightly. She smiled weakly and moved from Harry and Ron to where Malfoy was. "Now, you can all try for the remainder of the lesson," he said, climbing down the pile of books and starting to walk through the students.

Hermione sat down next to Draco, pulled out her wand and said "Incendio." The desk in front of Draco set on fire immediately.

"Hey, would you please wait a minute, I have not yet tried that Charm," he protested, pulling out his wand.

Nevertheless, Hermione didn't seem to hear him. "You knew that Luna thinks that you are good-looking?" she asked broodingly.

"Really?" he asked her, moving his wand up and down without looking at the fire.

"Yeah, I've been really stupid to choose her for you," she said bitterly, "Crabbe doesn't even know that I exist, and Luna is madly in love with you."

"Madly in love with me?" asked Draco, laughing, "She just said that I'm good-looking."

"Oh, well, Crabbe didn't say anything about me?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope," said Draco sweating from the heat of the fire in front of him, "He doesn't speak about girls, usually he talks about food."

"Interesting," said Hermione sarcastically, "Can't you tell me something that I don't know yet?"

"No, I can't," said Draco glaring at her, "And I shouldn't have told you even that."

"Yeah," she said bored, "Malfoy, your book is on fire," she said, nodding towards the desk. Draco looked at his book and jumped to his feet waving his wand up and down, but the only thing that he obtained was a hot wind that made the fire grow bigger. Hermione looked at him and raised her eyebrows and then she lazily picked up her wand and waved it gently over the fire. The flames faded away leaving a half-burned book on the desk.

"Was it so difficult?" asked Hermione, in her bossy tone of voice.

Draco glared at her. "You kept distracting me."

"Rubbish," she said sharply, "Set a fire." Draco looked at her with a murderous look and set a fire so close to Hermione that he almost burned her robes. Hermione glared at him and did exactly what she did with her own fire. The flames died away immediately.

"Very good, Miss. Granger," said Professor Flitwick, as he was passing by, "Mr. Malfoy, don't set a fire so near to your partner; you could have burned her hair."

"That would be funny," mumbled Draco.

"What?"

"I was saying that I would never do such a mean thing to our dear Head Girl," he said, smiling quickly.

"Very well, very well," said Professor Flitwick, hurrying towards Crabbe and Goyle whose hair were in flames.

"Ha, ha, ha. Really funny," said Hermione sarcastically, "Just try to set my hair on fire and I swear that I'll send you a Freezing Charm in that place," she said, pointing her wand at Draco's lower belly.

"I was just joking, Granger," he said, slightly concerned and pulled away her wand.

"Better for you," she said, putting the wand on the table.

"Oh, no, no, Mr. Weasley you have to extinguish the flames, not freeze Mr. Potter," said Professor Flitwick, heating Harry with his wand, "Class dismissed; for the next time, you have to try the Freezing Charm." Everybody stood up and moved towards the door.

"What are you going to do this afternoon?" Hermione whispered to Draco.

"Why do you want to know?" he whispered back.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and smiled innocently. "Curiosity."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "I don't know yet."

"Never mind," said Hermione, waiting for Ron and Harry while Draco left the classroom with his fellow Slytherins.

"Hermione, did really Malfoy tried to set your hair on fire?" asked Harry as he and Ron approached her.

"Actually, he didn't mean to, but he was really close," she said wistfully.

"I swear that I'm going to make him pay for that," said Ron angrily.

"Don't worry, Ron, I can look after myself," she said, walking quickly out of the classroom.

"Hey, I was just trying to be nice," protested Ron while he followed her.

Hermione sighed. "I know that. Just let's go and have lunch, ok?" Both Harry and Ron nodded.

When they reached the Great Hall, Hermione carefully chose a seat where she had a good view of what was going on in the Slytherin table. Nothing new, though. Crabbe and Goyle were eating, and Draco was trying to do the same thing, but he was being constantly distracted by Pansy.

Hermione tried to ignore the fact that she felt something like jealousy when she saw Pansy talking in her silly voice to Draco and looked back to Crabbe. He was eating everything he found on the table; Hermione observed him for more than half an hour, but he didn't seem to have any preferences on food. But when he finished his meat, Hermione's eyes brightened with joy. "Sweets," she exclaimed.

"But you have not yet finished your meat," said Ron, nodding towards her plate.

Hermione looked at her puzzled. "What the – oh, yeah. You are right, but I wasn't talking about me."

"No?" asked Harry.

"No, or better, yes. I was thinking that I have no sweets and I really would like to eat something like a Chocolate Frog," she lied.

"Are you pregnant?"

Hermione looked at Ginny as she sat down in front of her. "Ginny, what did you drink today? Euphoria Potion?"

Ginny giggled. "You just said that you wanted to eat Chocolate Frogs very much and I thought that maybe-"

"You thought wrong," said Hermione quickly, "Anyway, do you have any sweets to lend me? I'll pay you back this Saturday in Honeydukes."

"Actually, I have only some Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties, but no Chocolate Frogs," Ginny answered pensively.

"They are okay, thank you," said Hermione smiling.

"You know that you are acting really strangely lately?" asked Ginny, looking at the older Gryffindor intently, "I mean, you never asked for sweets, and always look towards the Slytherin table," she said following her gaze.

"What?" asked Hermione blinking, "What are you talking about, I'm not-"

"Hermione, it's me, Ginny, not Harry or Ron; I'm not as blind as them," she said gently.

"Blind?" sputtered Ron, almost choking on his pumpkin juice, "Harry, is this 'Wacky Witches Week'?"

Ginny ignored him. "Hermione, remember that you can talk to me whenever you want."

"Ginny, seriously there's nothing to talk about here. I've just too many things in my mind, and, yes, sometimes I stare, but I'm not looking at any Slytherin boy," she said nervously.

Ginny seemed unconvinced. "Ok, if you really think that."

"I do."

"Ok, then, I'm going to collect all my sweets for you, I'll be right back," she said standing up.

"Hermione, I didn't understand what she meant with saying that she is not blind as Ron and me," said Harry puzzled.

"She didn't mean anything, that's why you didn't understand her," said Hermione quietly.

Harry nodded and looked at Ron who shrugged his shoulders and murmured, "Girls."

Hermione looked at Crabbe again; luckily for her, he was the first who sat down for lunch and the last one to get up.

"Here you are, Hermione," said Ginny smiling, "I found also a couple of Licorice Wands, if you'd like them."

"Yeah, of course; I like everything," she said, taking the small bag that Ginny passed her.

"What are you going to do this afternoon, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"I don't know, yet. I have to study, but I don't know where to find a quiet place to do it," she answered, hiding a smile. All she had to find was the place where Crabbe would have gone.

"I told you to get off me, Pansy."

Hermione was snapped out of her thoughts by Draco's voice. Everybody's heads in the Great Hall turned towards the Slytherin table, where he was trying to pull Pansy away from him.

"But, Drakey-" she tried to throw her arms around his neck again.

"Don't call me that," shouted Draco.

Hermione and Ginny tried to suppress a giggle, while Ron and Harry burst into laughter like almost everybody in the Great Hall. The only one who was not even smiling was Luna, who looked slightly annoyed.

"Are you going to talk to me like this when we will be married?" asked Pansy between tears.

"Married?" asked Draco widening, "When did we decide to marry?"

"Oh, but Drakey-"

"No buts, Pansy, just get off me," he said rudely to her. Pansy looked at him with her eyes full of tears and stormed out of the Great Hall. Draco sighed in relief and turned his head once again towards Luna Lovegood who sat at the Ravenclaw table. He was surprised that she was looking back at him. The Slytherin smiled to her in his most handsome way, but she just looked away. 'Strange way to demonstrate that she likes me,' he thought angrily.

"Hey, Malfoy, you are still staring at that Loony Lovegood; are you okay?" asked Blaise Zabini, looking at him.

"I was? Yeah, I'm okay," said Draco, looking away.

"Well, I think that I will-"

"Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall was standing in front of him, "I checked your timetable and I saw that you and Miss. Granger had no classes this afternoon." Draco looked at her fearing what was going to follow that introduction; he nodded almost imperceptibly. "Very well, because I need your help with something," she said firmly, "Please follow me."

"But I have to study, you know-" the words died in his throat when he saw her eyes flashing dangerously, "Never mind," he said.

They moved quickly towards the Gryffindor table. "Miss. Granger, do you have something to do this afternoon?" Draco couldn't help but notice that she hadn't asked him that.

"Besides studying?" asked Hermione hopefully.

"Besides that, yes."

"Nothing, Professor McGonagall," she answered miserably.

"Very well, because I need you and Mr. Malfoy," she said, heading for the door with Hermione and Draco on her trail. They spent all afternoon in the Professor's Room, trying to help the Headmistress with a huge pile of decrees and notes about the students. Professor McGonagall made them eat the dinner while they were working. When she finally dismissed them, Hermione seemed simply furious.

"I could have spent all afternoon with Crabbe but I had to stay here with you and Professor McGonagall for those stupid notes," she screamed, walking down the corridor.

"You would have spent all the afternoon with Crabbe? Please, don't make me laugh, in two days you have not yet talked to him," said Draco, laughing.

"Shut your mouth," Hermione retorted angrily, "If you really want to know, I have a plan and I'm sure to win Crabbe's heart earlier than Saturday," she said, walking in front of him.

"Please, do you think that I'm really that stupid? You are saying that just because-"

Hermione stopped and turned towards him. "Whatever, Malfoy, I don't need you to believe me, but victory will be so nice. See you tomorrow," she said, climbing up the stairs for the Seventh Floor and leaving Draco there with a look of pure loathing.


	5. Wednesday

Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter is not mine, stop asking! - Okay, nobody has asked it yet, but if you are going to do that, well don't! –

A/N: Okay, I'm not too proud for admitting that I did a hole in the water with this fan fiction. Anyway, here there's another chapter, if there's someone that reads this story well I hope that you will like it. Cheers!

To Halo of Darkness: Thanks again for the wonderful job that you are doing, for your speed and for being a very nice friend.

**Wednesday**

"Today, I'm going to succeed in my wonderful plan," said Hermione with a wild light in her eyes. She was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room with Harry and Ron. They were just back from lunch and seemed too full of food to do anything else than stare in front of them.

"What?" asked Harry, looking at her.

"Nothing," she said quickly.

"What plan?" asked Ron.

"My plan to – well – tame – well – my hair," she said, thinking fast.

"Interesting," said Harry, puzzled.

"Yeah, girl things; you wouldn't understand," she said bossily.

"What don't they understand?" asked Ginny, sitting down in an armchair next to them.

Hermione looked at her friend. "Will you please tell me why you always appear out of nowhere and want to know everything I'm saying?"

Ginny shrugged her shoulders and giggled. "I don't know, but it's funny, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah of course," answered Hermione, unconvinced, "Anyway, I was just saying that today I'm going to tame my bushy hair and-"

"Wonderful, I can help you," said Ginny, clapping her hands.

Hermione looked at her horrified. "Don't you have any other friend to stay with?"

"How funny you are, Hermione," said Ginny, laughing.

"Yeah, I'm a funny girl," she said, turning slightly green, "Anyway, Ginny I was thinking that you don't have to help me if you don't-"

"Oh, but I would be delighted to help you," Ginny cut her off.

"Yeah, but if you have something else to-"

"Nothing to do."

"Someone else to see-"

"No one."

"Don't you have classes?"

"Nope."

"You don't have anybody to snog with?"

Ron almost choked and Harry looked at Hermione with his mouth half opened.

"No," Ginny answered simply.

"Ok, listen," snapped Hermione, closing the book that she was studying, "It's something that I have to do by myself. You know, if you or Lavender or Parvati always help me with my hair, I will never learn how to make it soft and shining."

Ginny seemed to think about what Hermione said. "Maybe I can tell you what you have to do and you can do it by yourself, and if you have problems I can help you."

"No, Ginny," said Hermione throwing her hands up in a very melodramatic gesture, "I know that you can understand me better than these two," she said, nodding towards Harry and Ron, "So please just let me do it by myself. If I will ever need your help, I swear that I'll call you."

"Oh, Hermione," said Ginny, hugging her, "Of course; sorry if I insisted. I just wanted to be sure that you knew that I was there for you."

"Oh, I know that you are always there," said Hermione, smiling. They hugged each other for a couple of minutes. Harry and Ron looked at them without a clue as to what was going on, but they weren't so keen on asking the girls.

"Well, I think that now I'll have to go," said Hermione, getting up.

"Ok, and if you need me, I'll be here," said Ginny, excited.

"Of course," said Hermione, heading towards the hole behind the Fat Lady.

"Hey, aren't you going to do it in your dorm?" asked Ginny, suspiciously. Hermione hurried off without a further word and disappeared behind the painting of the Fat Lady. She put a hand in her pocket and touched all the sweets that she had managed to find. Crabbe would be the happiest man on Earth. All she had to do now was find him.

'Of course,' she thought, patting her forehead, 'The Slytherin team has practise today.' She ran down the stairs towards the First Floor and exited the grounds. She could see some small green figures flying above the Quidditch Pitch. As she walked down towards them, she tried to think about a strategy for getting near Crabbe.

'Surely, Malfoy will be there, too. Nevertheless, I don't mind. I'll just watch the practise and then wait for Crabbe outside the Slytherin changing room, which is…,' Hermione looked at all the doors and found one with Slytherin's colours on it and a serpent, 'There. Heh, heh.'

Hermione sat down in the highest seats and looked at the Slytherins that were flying above her head. She was so keen on trying to distinguish Crabbe from the others that she didn't notice Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode come near her and sit down on each side of her.

"Well, well, well," sad Pansy, causing Hermione to jump in surprise, "What is a Gryffindor doing at the training of the Slytherin Quidditch team?"

"Nothing," said Hermione, trying to stand up. Both Millicent and Pansy seized her robes and pushed her back to her seat.

"Do you think that I'm stupid?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Pansy turned red. "How dare you?" she almost screamed. Over their heads, loads of broomsticks stopped and some heads turned towards the three of them.

"You asked and I answered," said Hermione quietly.

"You didn't answer correctly."

"Well, actually you asked me what I thought and I told you exactly what I – no, wait a minute, I didn't even answer. Why are you bothering me, then?" Pansy looked at her without understanding a single word of what Hermione was saying.

"Pansy, are you going to hex her?" asked Millicent.

"I don't know, did she say something bad?"

Millicent shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure – but, hey, who cares? She is a Gryffindor; let's hex her anyway."

Pansy seemed to enjoy her idea. "You are right, Millicent. What were you thinking about?" Hermione looked at Millicent; she wasn't sure that she could think.

"I don't know," she said.

"Never mind," said Pansy, pulling out her wand and pointing it at Hermione, "I think that everything will be fine with-"

"Look Parkinson, Malfoy is trying to talk to you," said Hermione, pointing her finger at Draco.

Pansy jumped to her feet and looked at him. "Drakey, I'm here," she screamed, waving her hands, but Draco couldn't care less.

"I don't think that he was going to talk to you," said Millicent, standing up too and looking at him.

"Of course he was," she snapped, "But now let's come back to our dear – where is she?" Pansy started to scream with anger, while Millicent looked around for Hermione.

"What are you screaming for? You are interrupting our training," said Draco, flying near them.

"Oh, Drakey," said Pansy, smiling, "It's not my fault. We were going to hex that filthy Mudblood Hermione Granger and Millicent just let her escape."

"That's not true; she told you that Malfoy was trying to capture your attention and you just lost your head," protested Millicent.

"What?" asked Draco.

"Why, you weren't trying to talk to me Drakey?"

Draco looked at her annoyed. "Of course I wasn't. I was trying to play. But what were you saying about Granger? Is she here?" Draco looked around himself.

"Well, actually she is not here anymore. You'll have to thank me, Drakey, because I freed you from her, and she won't bother you any further during your practise," said Pansy, proudly.

"Pansy, you are the only one here that bothers me," hissed Draco, while he flew away. Pansy decided that it was a surplus of love towards her that made Draco say those things. Therefore, she just sat back and waited for the training to be over. She kept her eyes on Draco for all the remains of the practice.

Draco, on the other hand, was looking for the Golden Snitch in a very singular way. He was looking at the grounds around the pitch instead of the air. If only Crabbe and Goyle would have been a little bit quicker, they could have understood that Draco wasn't looking for the Snitch at all; his only thought was to find Hermione and try to understand what she was doing there at that time. He already had an idea, but he wanted to know exactly what she had in mind.

"Malfoy, have you found the Snitch? We are all tired and want to go up the castle and have dinner," said Urquath.

"Yeah, well, you go, I've almost done with it," said Draco, flying near the ground.

Urquath shrugged his shoulders and made signs to the rest of the team to land and go in the changing room. Draco followed them with his eyes and waited until the last one entered the changing room, then he decided to fly outside the pitch still looking for Hermione. There she was, leaning against the wall near the Slytherin door, with something in her hands that Draco could not see from a distance. He opted to fly a little bit closer to her, but at that very moment, the door burst open and the players started to come out. They eyed Hermione rudely, but walked in front of her without making any strange comments. They knew that she was Head Girl after all. Crabbe was the last one to come out. Hermione stepped in his direction when she saw him. He was all sweaty and stank really badly. She did her best to not make a horrified face or put her hand to her nose.

"Hi, Vinc – Crabbe," she changed at the last minute. He looked at her, not really understanding neither why she was talking to him nor how she knew his name.

"I said 'hi'."

"I know, I heard that," he said, starting to walk.

"Well, shouldn't you answer to me?" asked Hermione, following him. He stopped and trying to think, something that was incredibly difficult for him. "I don't know," he said finally, "Why?"

"Because I said 'hi' and you should say 'hi' back to me."

"Really? Hi then," he said, walking again.

"You know, I've something for you," she said, smiling mischievously.

Crabbe stopped and turned his head towards her. "Really?"

"Of course; I would never lie to you."

Crabbe looked like he has been Confunded. "Really?" he asked again.

"Of course, look," she said, giving him all the Cauldron Cakes and Licorice Wands and Pumpkin Pasties that she had. Crabbe took them and started to put everything in his mouth.

"Do you like them?" asked Hermione, with a bright smile on her face.

He answered something like "Of course I do," or it could have been "I'll curse you," Hermione wasn't sure about it because he had his mouth full of Licorice Wands, but he headed for the castle singing 'Weasley is our king', so he couldn't have been unhappy at all.

"Oh, my gosh," said a voice over her head, "That was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen."

Hermione didn't even turn her head. "What are you talking about, Malfoy? I've managed to talk to him, and he was happy about my little present."

"Oh please, didn't you hear him? He said that he'll burn you," Draco said as landed down next to her.

"You were too far away. He said that he liked my present," said Hermione, looking at him fiercely.

"Did he thank you?"

Hermione glared at him. "He said 'hi'."

"Wow, that's great Granger. What is the next step? Teaching him to say 'mum' and 'dad'?"

"Oh yeah, Malfoy, you are always so funny," she said sharply, "And when are you going to talk to Luna?"

This seemed to shut Draco's mouth for a while. "That's slightly different, Granger. I simply don't want her around me too much," he answered as sharply as her, "I'm still trying to free myself from Pansy."

Hermione couldn't help smiling. "Oh poor little, Drakey," she said, imitating Pansy.

"Yeah, laugh if you want, but I'm telling you this, and you should mark my words, tomorrow I'm going to talk to Loony Lovegood," said Draco.

"Oh, my God, now I'm really scared; you are going to talk to Luna? That's terrible. How will I be able to do better than you?" she said, trying not to laugh.

"You said that she liked me-"

"I said that she thinks that you are a good-looking boy," pointed out Hermione.

"It's the same."

"It's not."

"Yesterday you weren't so sure, were you?"

"Shut up, she just said that you weren't all that bad, ok?"

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Okay, as you wish, but I can be very convincing, if I want to."

"Oh yeah, of course," she said. Then she noticed that a couple of figures were walking towards them from the Quidditch Pitch. Pansy and Millicent. She decided not to tell Draco that his favourite Slytherin girl was approaching him from the back, but rather to enjoy the scene of Pansy getting angry with him because he was talking to her.

"Listen, Malfoy it's up to you, after all," she said lazily, "You can choose what to do, and I've nothing to do with it. And I would thank you if you please stop bothering me about the way I'm approaching Crabbe, okay?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders, "Ok, when I'll win this bet you will-" But he didn't finish the sentence because Pansy Parkinson jumped on his back and threw her arms around his neck, screaming like a Banshee. Draco choked and fell on the ground, or, even better, he fell over Pansy.

Hermione started to giggle uncontrollably at the sight of Draco's face turning red because Pansy was almost going to suffocate him with her arms. As she headed for the castle, she heard Draco screaming something very unpleasant at Pansy. Hermione entered the Great Hall with a big smile still on her face and joined Harry, Ron and Ginny for dinner.

"Hermione," exclaimed Ginny when she saw her.

"What?"

"Your hair," she said feebly.

"What, do I have something on it?" asked Hermione, touching her head.

Ginny shook her head, "No, but you didn't succeed in taming it."

"Oh, yeah, well, it looks like I need you after all, Ginny," she said trying to smile.

"Oh yes, you really do," the younger Gryffindor said, clapping her hands.


	6. Thursday

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, didn't you know that?

A/N: Okay, I'll stop saying that this fan fiction is a complete mess, because after all someone is reviewing it. Oh, thanks so much to all the people that are reviewing! I really hope that you'll like this chapter because it's my favorite in this story. It's a little bit strange, but I like it. Eh, eh! Enjoy it!

To Halo of Darkness: Oh, thanks so much for being such an excellent and quick beta-reader and a nice friend, too!

**Thursday**

"Hermione, can I have a little look at your Potions homework?" asked Ron, hopefully.

"Ron Weasley, you had all day to write down what is needed in a Hair-Raising Potion," she answered, sharply.

"Oh, please, Hermione, there was Quidditch training this afternoon," he said, looking at her with puppy eyes.

"Harry had Quidditch training too, and he did his Potions homework as well, didn't you, Harry?" she asked, turning towards Harry.

Harry turned slightly red. "Well, yeah – the fact is that-"

"He didn't do it either, Hermione," said Ron, pointing towards Harry and smirking.

"Shut up, Weasley," said Harry, "That's true, I didn't do it, but I'm going to do it by myself, now."

Ron glared at him. "Oh, look what a good guy our Harry Potter is," he said sarcastically.

Hermione sighed. "Stop it, Ron; you should try to do it by yourself, too."

"But will you correct it?"

"If you mean that will I have a look at it and point out what you did wrong, yes; but I'm not going to write it down for you."

"And if it is all wrong?"

"Then you'll have to do it another-"

"You will never believe what happened," said Ginny, hurrying towards them and sitting between Ron and Hermione.

"If it is any kind of gossip I don't want to-"

"Draco Malfoy asked Luna out," she said, interrupting Hermione.

"What?" she asked, jumping on the armchair, "I want to know everything!" Ginny giggled.

"Malfoy did what?" inquired Harry, with an astonishing look at Ginny.

"Luna?" asked Ron at the same time as Harry.

"Luna," confirmed Ginny, "She herself told me everything."

"Oh, please Ginny, tell me what happened," begged Hermione, looking very agitated.

"I don't know," she said, vaguely, "Did you let me help you with your hair?"

Hermione snorted, but after a while, she smiled sheepishly. "You are right, Ginny. What do you think if we go upstairs and you try to smooth my hair while you are telling me what happened?" Ginny stood up with a big smile on her face.

"Don't you try to go upstairs, we want to know, too," said Ron, forcing his sister to sit back down.

"Ron, don't be silly; Ginny will tell you later," said Hermione, annoyed.

"No, we want to know, now," protested Harry.

"I swear that I'll tell you both," said Ginny.

"No, that's not right," said Ron, "Why you have to know before us?"

"Because I'm a girl," said Hermione, brightly.

"That's not the right reason," protested Harry.

"Ok, ok, ok," said Ginny cheerfully, "Since you all want to know at the same time, Hermione, go upstairs and bring down all your hair products. I'll do your hair here."

"What?" asked Hermione, looking around at the Gryffindor common room full of people, "No way."

"Well, I'm not going to tell anybody anything, then," said Ginny, crossing her arms.

Harry turned quickly towards Hermione. "Hermione, go upstairs and take those damn hair products. Don't you see that it's for a good reason?"

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest as well. "No, I'm not going to do that. I'm Head Girl."

"I'm not going to say anything then," sang Ginny.

"Please, Hermione," said Ron.

Hermione looked at them all and snorted loudly. "Fine, but if I hear somebody laughing, I swear that-"

"That you'll give us detentions?" asked Ron, laughing.

"No, I swear that I won't help you with your homework anymore, Ronald Weasley," she said, storming out of the common room.

"She wasn't serious, was she?" asked Ron, taken back.

"I think she was, mate," said Harry, patting him on his shoulder.

"Well, I must not laugh then," he said, seriously. Harry and Ginny exchanged looks but didn't say anything because, at that moment, Hermione arrived with lots of bottles in her arms.

"Here you are," she said to Ginny, putting everything on the table.

Ginny looked like a little child in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. "Sit on the floor, Hermione." Hermione thought that it wasn't a bad idea if she sat on the floor. Then, she would have been short and barely visible from the other Gryffindors, so she crossed her legs and sat in front of Ginny.

"Hmm, let me see which one I can use first," she said, reading all the labels on the bottles quickly.

Ron sighed. "Just use one randomly, Ginny."

Both Ginny and Hermione glared at him and shook their heads. Then, Ginny took a small pink bottle and, opening it, poured some of the liquid into the palm of her hand and rubbed it over Hermione's hair. "You are going to be gorgeous when I'll be finished with you, Hermione."

Harry yawned. "Now that you are happy, Ginny, are you going to tell us exactly what happened?"

"Sure," she said, rubbing Hermione's head, "Well, it all started this morning-"

"This morning? Why didn't you tell us earlier, then? At the Quidditch training for example," asked Ron, angrily.

"Because I wanted to tell Hermione first," said Ginny, smiling. Both Harry and Ron snorted, but Ginny ignored them. Hermione was silent and waited for her to continue. "Anyway, as I was saying before my intelligent brother interrupted me," she said, stressing the word 'intelligent', "This morning I was walking with Luna in the dungeons (we had Potions class together) and we were talking about Neville. Luna said that he is funny. I think that maybe-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Ron.

"I just wanted to give you all the details," she said, annoyed.

"What about Neville?" inquired Hermione, giggling.

"Please, can we come back to the Malfoy subject?" asked Harry, bored.

"Yeah, of course," Ginny said, taking a green bottle and starting to empty it over Hermione's hair, "Well, as I was saying, we were walking together when we saw Draco Malfoy. He was leaning against the wall near the Potions classroom door. My first instinct was to feel my wand in my pocket. I mean, what business does he have going there? Malfoy didn't have Potions this morning; he doesn't have anything at all on Thursday morning and-"

"How do you know?" asked Harry, suspiciously.

"What?" she asked, distracted.

"How do you know that he doesn't have anything at all on Thursday morning?"

"Oh, please Harry," she said, laughing nervously, "If he was there, he shouldn't have had anything, right?"

"Maybe he did have something. He is always late for classes."

"He told that he had nothing to do," said Ginny, rolling her eyes. Hermione raised her eyebrows but nobody saw her. "Can I go on, now?" Ginny didn't like being interrupted. Harry nodded.

"Well, as I was saying, Draco was there and-"

"Draco?"

"Uff, Malfoy was there and there was nobody else except for Luna and me. Actually, I wasn't sure about what to do, but Luna didn't seem to care that he was there. Anyway, when we reached him, he did something totally unexpected," said Ginny, seriously.

"Did Malfoy do something to you? Because if he did, I-"

"Nothing like that," said Ginny, waving a hand in front of Harry, "He smiled."

"What?" asked Hermione, jerking her head towards the younger Weasley with a 'that's-not-possible' look on her face. Ginny nodded and made Hermione turn her head towards the front so that she could go on using the products on her.

"Yeah, he smiled, and that was really strange. Even Luna thought that."

"And then?" asked Ron, coming closer to Ginny.

"Then what?"

"What did he do? You said he asked Luna out, didn't you?"

"Are you joking, Ron? Nobody, not even Malfoy, would smile and then ask somebody out," said Ginny, coolly.

"What are talking about? You said that-"

"I know what I said, it just didn't happen at that moment," she said, now stopping and looking at Hermione's hair.

"What? Why are you telling us these things, then?" asked Harry, puzzled.

"Oh, stop it," said Hermione, waving a hand over her head, "What Ginny has told us is very important. Go on Ginny."

Ginny grimaced at Ron and went on, "Well, Potions was really boring; the only funny thing that happened was when Luna put some Bubotuber pus instead of Belladonna. Slughorn became all red while he was screaming," said Ginny, laughing.

"Yeah, funny funny, and then?" asked Harry, hopefully.

Ginny seemed simply furious. "Well, if you please calm down and wait a minute – sorry Hermione – I will explain everything, but you don't have to interrupt me anymore."

"Ok, ok, sorry," said Harry, shrugging his shoulders.

"And you too, Ron."

"What? But I'm your brother, you can't-"

Harry shook his head. "Just say that you wouldn't interrupt her anymore, Ron, please. I still have my Potions homework to do."

Ron snorted. "I won't interrupt you anymore, now please go on."

"And don't hurry me," she snapped. Ron was going to reply something very nasty to his sister, but Harry elbowed him in his ribs and that made him shut his mouth. "Anyway, as I was saying, after two boring hours of Potions, we had Transfiguration. We walked there together and guess who was waiting for us next to the Transfiguration classroom door?"

"Draco?" asked Hermione.

"Draco?" asked Ron, "Since when does everybody here call him Draco?"

Ginny glared at him. "Exactly Hermione, Draco Malfoy. And this time he did not only smile. He even said, 'Hi.'"

"I can't believe that," said Hermione with her eyes wide open, "He said, 'Hi'?"

"Hey, why can Hermione interrupt you?" protested Ron.

Ginny ignored him. "He said, 'Hi.' Really, I couldn't believe my ears. He wasn't saying anything nasty nor was he unkind. Malfoy just stood there and said 'Hi.' to us, or rather, he was talking to Luna, because he didn't even look at me," she said, stroking Hermione's hair a little bit too strongly.

"Ouch," cried Hermione, rubbing her head.

"Sorry again, Hermione," she said, patting the other girl's head, "Well, and he also went on speaking, always to Luna, of course. He acted almost like I was not there," she added bitterly, "He said that he found Luna's timetable somewhere in the castle and he decided to bring it back to her. Malfoy said that, after all, he was Head Boy and he cared about all the poor little girls that-"

"No, wait," Hermione almost screamed, "Did he actually say those things?"

"Every single word."

"No, I can't believe that," she said, shaking her head, "What a filthy hypocrite he is."

"Hypocrite?" asked Harry, not understanding, "I would rather say what a liar."

"Harry, don't interrupt her," reminded Ron.

"But, Hermione-"

"Ron's right, Harry. Don't interrupt Ginny," chastised Hermione.

"Thank you, Hermione," said Ginny, pouring another potion on her hair, "Anyway, he gave the timetable to Luna and walked away. You know what the funny thing was. Luna hadn't lost her own timetable, but Draco's one was not a copy, either."

"No!" said Hermione, trying to sound genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, I really wonder where the hell he took it."

"And why," said Harry, seriously. Both Hermione and Luna looked at him with their eyebrows raised and a couple of seconds later, Ron joined them, but not understanding why.

"Oh Harry, you are so naïve," said Ginny, "Obviously he was looking for a pretext to talk to Luna."

Ron and Harry burst into laughter. "And why would he want to talk to Loony Lovegood?" asked Ron.

"Don't call her that, Ron," said Ginny, glaring at him, "Luna is a very nice girl, in her own way. I think."

"She is much too nice," murmured Hermione, "But he couldn't have asked her out at that moment, right?"

"Right. He just walked away with a big grin on his face. That was the first time that I saw Luna surprised. Can you believe that she said, 'Thank you.' and he also answered, 'You are welcome.'?"

"It's unbelievable," Hermione remarked.

"Yeah, and when Luna told me what happened this afternoon, I couldn't believe it either," she said, pointing her wand at Hermione's hair and waving it lazily. Hermione's hair turned blonde and straight. Harry and Ron jumped out of their armchairs and Ginny seemed a little surprised, too.

"Ginny, what did you do?" asked Ron, kneeling down next to Hermione and looking at her with his nose in her hair.

"Why?" asked Hermione, automatically bringing her hands to her head and smiling, "Ginny, that's great; my hair is straight and-"

"-blonde," Harry finished for her.

"Yeah, and – what?" she asked, taken back, "Blonde?"

"Well, it's not blonde, it's just a little bit less dark than usually," said Ginny, observing Hermione from various distances.

"I think that Fleur is not even as blonde as her," said Harry, looking at Hermione.

"What?" screamed Hermione, causing lots of first-year Gryffindor to look at them and laugh.

"Don't scream, Hermione, because then everybody will notice you," said Ginny, trying to cover Hermione's head with her hands.

"I think that people will notice her anyway," said Ron, who was hardly trying to hold back his laughter.

"Oh, stop it Ron," said Ginny, "Hermione, it's just that today we have started human transfiguration and I must have messed up the spells."

"Can I have a mirror?" asked Hermione, feebly.

Ginny opened her bag and pulled out a small mirror. "Here you are," She handed it to her.

Hermione looked at herself. "You said that you started human transfiguration today?" she asked.

Ginny looked at her; Hermione didn't seem very angry. "Y-yes."

"Well, I must say that you are great. You did a very good job. The first time that Ron tried to change the colour of his eyebrows, he gave himself a moustache," said Hermione, admiring her hair in the mirror.

"I can't believe you still remember that," said Ron, rolling his eyes.

Ginny smiled. "Actually I didn't do it on purpose, but thank you. So you do like your new colour?"

"Of course I don't," Hermione retorted, giving the mirror back to Ginny, "And I would love to have my brown hair back. Do you think you can do that?"

"I don't know, it's better if you do it by yourself," she said, putting down her wand.

"No, Hermione, keep your hair blonde. You look nice," said Ron, laughing.

Hermione glared at him. "I'm really sorry to inform you, Ronald, that from this moment on, I will never help you with your homework again," she said, pointing her wand at her hair. Her hair became brown at once and Ron gasped. "Now," said Hermione, sitting down next to Ginny on the armchair, "Will you please go on telling what happened to Luna next? Curiosity is killing me."

"Oh, yes, of course," she said, "I met Luna while I was going to the Quidditch Pitch for the training-"

"That's why you were late!"

"Shut up, Harry," said Ron, "Hermione is listening and you can't interrupt my little sister."

"That won't make me change my mind about your homework, Ron," said Hermione. Ron muttered something like, "Girls" and rolled his eyes.

"Well, I was heading for the door when she came out of nowhere. She looked very agitated. I stopped and tried to talk to her but she just said senseless things. I thought that maybe someone has Confunded her or something like that, so I made her sit down in the Great Hall and asked her what happened exactly," Ginny retold. Harry, Ron and Hermione held their breath. "She said that she was going to her common room when she met Malfoy, and-"

"But that's not possible. Malfoy has classes all afternoon on Thursday," said Hermione.

"I know, in fact, I thought that that was really strange," she said, sighing.

"Excuse me, lovely ladies, but may I ask why you know Malfoy's timetable by heart?" asked Harry.

"I'm Head Girl," Hermione answered quickly.

"And I-I've been able to look at Malfoy's timetable at the beginning of the year, b-because Professor McGonagall gave me his and gave him mine," Ginny answered, looking at her hands. Hermione thought that that was the worst lie she had ever heard but incredibly, Harry and Ron seemed to believe her. "Anyway, Luna said that she met Malfoy just outside of the Ravenclaw's common room. He smiled and greeted her when he saw her, exactly like he did this morning, and he also said that he was happy to see that she was alone because he had to talk to her. Then Luna said that he threw himself in a long discourse about how pretty she had become and stuff like that and then finally he asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him this Saturday," said Ginny sighing.

"And what did she answer?" asked Hermione, weakly. Harry and Ron thought that it was quite a stupid question because they would never expect Luna to say yes to Malfoy.

"Yes."

"Yes?" Hermione felt something incredibly heavy drop in her stomach.

"Yes," repeated Ginny, "I asked Luna if she was sure and she said that she was. After all – Hermione, where are you going?"

Hermione had just stood up. "Oh, well, Ginny, I think that I will go to bed, there's nothing more to listen to, right?"

"No, but I thought-"

"Well, you know, I have a little headache. Maybe you shouldn't have mixed up all those products together. Anyway, see you tomorrow," she said, heading for the girls dorm with all her bottles in one hand and her books in the other.

"Good night," said Ron, thoughtfully. Hermione nodded and disappeared up the stairs. When she entered her room, she threw everything on her bed.

"So, our dear Head Boy thinks that he is very intelligent?" Hermione screamed, angrily, "I'll let him see who Hermione Granger is," she laughed so hard that Parvati and Lavender, who entered at that very moment, thought that she was going a little insane.

"A little more insane than usually," whispered Lavender, causing Parvati to giggle.


	7. Friday

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Oh, well, there's not much to say about this chapter, maybe I could tell you that I like the end of it… I couldn't stop laughing while I wrote the last scene, okay, maybe it's not funny at all, but I liked it! Eh eh, anyway, enjoy the chapter!

To Halo of Darkness: Thanks a lot for all the work that you are doing, you are really quick and above all you are really nice. I appreciate it a lot, thanks again!

**Friday**

"I can't believe it," said Ginny angrily, sitting down next to Hermione and slamming her books on the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, I know, my hair curled back tonight, but I don't really know-"

"Oh, yeah," said Ginny, looking at Hermione for the first time, "What a pity – but I wasn't talking about that," she said, helping herself to some scrambled eggs.

"No?"

"No, I was talking about Harry," she said, glaring at the eggs.

"What did he do?"

"He planned Quidditch training for tomorrow afternoon. I won't be able to go to Hogsmeade and I was planning a long visit to Honeydukes," she said, miserably.

"You are not coming to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, Ron, Harry and I are not coming. Don't you think that it's awful?" she asked Hermione.

Hermione suppressed a giggle. That was wonderful. None of her friends would have seen her with Crabbe. Well, if she would have been able to ask Crabbe on a date.

"Oh, yes," she said after a while, "Awful."

"Yeah, but Harry really wants to do that, I mean, he really likes to play Quidditch and I think he needs to do something he loves in these times with You-Know-Who on his track," said Ginny sighing.

"Yeah, you are right, and it's better if he doesn't come to Hogsmeade. After all, Hogwarts is safer for him," said Hermione, thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but I would have really wished that I could have gone. I also wanted to know what Malfoy would do with Luna."

"Don't worry, Ginny, I'll tell you everything," said Hermione, smiling.

"Thank you, Hermione, you are a real friend," she said, smiling back.

"Ginny! Ginny!" Luna hurried towards them, "Oh, hi, Hermione," she said when she saw her.

"Hi, Luna," said Hermione and Ginny in unison.

"Hermione, you will never guess who-"

"Malfoy?"

"How do you know?"

"I told her, Luna," said Ginny, grinning.

"Oh, well, I won't have to explain, then," Luna replied, smiling.

"Yeah," answered Hermione, "And how do you feel?"

"Actually, a little bit excited. That is very strange. I can't remember the last time that I've been really excited. Maybe when Harry asked me to go to Slughorn's Christmas party last year," she said, contemplatively.

"Excited?" asked Hermione, feebly. That was bad, very bad.

"Yes, pretty excited at the moment, but maybe tomorrow, my excitement will be out," she said, dreamily.

"I really hope so," muttered Hermione.

"What?"

"Nothing, I was thinking that you will surely have a great date tomorrow," said Hermione, quickly.

"Date? I don't know if I would call it a 'date.' It's just that we're going there together, but we won't be alone," said Luna, smiling.

"What? You won't be alone?" asked Hermione, suddenly interested.

"No, I asked a couple of friends if they wanted to come with us. Padma Patil, for example, is coming."

Hermione started to giggle, while Ginny looked at Luna as if she was from another planet.

"And I wanted to ask you, Ginny, too. What do you think?"

"Oh, Luna, I'm really sorry," she lied, "But I have a Quidditch practise tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh, what about you, Hermione?"

Hermione choked at the pumpkin juice that she was sipping, "Well, I don't think that I'll be able to come – I mean, I will come but – well it's hard to explain -"

"Ok, I understand, you already have somebody to go with," said Luna.

"Precisely," she answered, smiling.

"Ok, never mind," said Luna shrugging her shoulders, " See you later, Ginny, Hermione."

"See you, Luna," said Ginny, then she turned towards Hermione, "Now, I'm pretty happy that I've Quidditch practise tomorrow. I don't think that Draco will be very happy to hang out with all the Ravenclaws that still attend this school, but Hermione that was a fat lie. You'll have to find somebody to go with to Hogsmeade, although Luna will understand that you said it just so you wouldn't have to go with her and Draco."

"Yeah," said Hermione, smiling, "I think that I will have to find somebody."

"Oh, well, I can ask if somebody wants to come with you and-"

"Thank you very much, Ginny, but I already have an idea about who I'll ask," said Hermione, still grinning.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And who is he?"

"Sorry, but that's private stuff," said Hermione, beaming.

"What? But I'm your best friend, aren't I?"

"Yeah, you are."

"And then you should tell me," protested Ginny.

"Maybe one day I'll tell you," she said, sitting up. Ginny snorted. "See you later, Ginny," Hermione called, heading for the door.

"See you," said Ginny, following her with her eyes.

Hermione exited the Great Hall. She only had one day left before Hogsmeade. She had to ask Crabbe out that very day.

"Good morning, Miss. Head Girl," said a scornful voice, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts.

Hermione slowly turned her head towards the boy who spoke. "Malfoy," she said, lazily, "What an unpleasant surprise."

Draco stepped towards her. "That means that you already know about my little date with Miss. Lovegood, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, I know. But if I were you, I wouldn't call it 'little'," said Hermione. suppressing a smile.

"Yeah, you are right, it will be a great date – but never mind that, what about you? Are you going to Hogsmeade with someone in particular?" he asked, sneering.

"I will go with someone, don't worry about that. And we will be alone," she said stressing the word 'alone' in an unusual way.

Draco didn't notice, though. "When you think you are going to ask him?"

"Pretty soon, actually," she said, climbing down the stairs. Draco looked at her and shook his head. She would never succeed at inviting Crabbe; he was sure. Hermione, on the other hand, was confident that she would be going with Crabbe to Hogsmeade. She placed a hand in her pocket and touched the small sphere in it. Hermione had wrapped it accurately in lots of pieces of parchment; she didn't want to stink for the whole day.

When the Gryffindor reached the Slytherin Common Room, she hid behind the corner and was just in time to see Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Goyle and Crabbe exiting.

'Having breakfast at dawn has been really useful,' she thought, unwrapping the small sphere that she hid in her pocket. Being very carefully not to touch it, she threw the Dungbomb in their direction.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Blaise Zabini, with a hand over his face.

"What is it?" Pansy asked, taking a step back.

"A Dungbomb," Hermione replied, stepping in front of them, "Which are banished from this school." She was looking at them severely, exactly as Professor McGonagall would have done herself.

"Oh, well, we know that," answered Blaise, "It's not us who threw it."

"Really?" Hermione looked at them intently, "If I have to tell you the truth, I saw one of you throw it."

"You are lying," said Pansy, "Why would one of us have thrown it in here? There's nobody but Slytherins. No Gryffindors to bother," she added, smirking.

"I don't know why one of you should have thrown a Dungbomb here, but I'm Head Girl and I have to do something," she said, firmly.

"For example? Giving us detentions?" asked Blaise, laughing.

"Exactly."

"You can't," said Goyle, with something like fear in his voice.

"Try me." All the laughter faded away and the Slytherins looked at each other. "Not so brave without, Malfoy, are you?" Hermione asked.

"Stop it, Granger. You said that you saw who threw the Dungbomb, right?"

"Right."

"Then give him alone a detention."

Hermione seemed to think about Blaise's words, but she was thinking that she was really a genius. "Ok, then," she said, slowly, "Crabbe, follow me, please."

"What? Why?" he asked, surprised.

"Because I saw you. There's no need to lie."

"I didn't throw it."

"You did."

"Didn't."

"Did."

"Didn't-"

"Oh, stop it," screamed Blaise, "Crabbe, follow her."

"But I didn't-"

"She said that you did."

"It's not true."

"But she is Head Girl."

"And then?"

"It doesn't count for anything? Maybe I should report it to Malfoy – who do you prefer, Crabbe? Malfoy or me?" asked Hermione, with her hands on her hips. Crabbe gulped. "Very well, follow me." Goyle pulled Crabbe towards Hermione. She turned her back towards the Slytherins and started to walk with a big grin on her face.

"Where are we going?" asked Crabbe, as they climbed the stairs.

"To a quiet place where nobody can find us."

"W-why?" asked Crabbe; he was almost sure that she wanted to curse him.

"Because I don't want to be heard as I talk to you, ok? Or you would prefer to let the whole school know that I am giving you a punishment?"

"No, no," he answered. He didn't want to let everybody know that Mudblood Granger gave him a detention.

Hermione climbed another staircase. A group of Ravenclaws looked at them as they passed by. "Here," she said opening a door.

Crabbe looked horrified. "But it's a bathroom – a girls' bathroom."

"I know," she said calmly, "It's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. There will be nobody here." Crabbe followed her, reluctantly. "Myrtle?" called Hermione, "Are you here?" Nobody answered. Evidently, she was having a little trip to the lake. "What you did was terrible," Hermione said, leaning against a hand basin and crossing her arms on her chest.

"Was it?" asked Crabbe.

"Of course it was, throwing a Dungbomb in a corridor. Where do you think you are?"

"I-I don't know."

"It doesn't surprise me," she snapped, "What are you going to tell me?"

"T-that it wasn't me," he said, quite afraid.

"Stop it, I saw you."

"Then I must be guilty," said Crabbe, thoughtfully.

"You are," Hermione nodded.

"W-what are you going to do to me?"

Hermione smirked. "Well, there are lots of thing I would like to do to you," she said. Crabbe gulped again. "But," she said with sweeter tone of voice.

"But?"

"But, I can close an eye on what I saw, if you…" she paused for effect.

"If I?" asked Crabbe, gulping again.

Hermione stepped towards him. "If you'll come to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow." Crabbe looked at her as if he was waiting for something else. "So?" she asked after a while.

"Why do you want to go with me?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Because I think that we will have lots of fun together," her voice softer.

"Really?"

"Of course," she smiled.

"It looks almost like blackmail to me," he said with his eyebrows raised.

Hermione looked at him, surprised, "I didn't know you knew the word 'blackmail'; it's a really long word – anyway, if you think that I'm blackmailing you, never mind, but it's a pity because I was planning to buy you everything you wanted at Honeydukes," she said, starting to walk towards the door.

"What?" he jumped between Hermione and the door.

Hermione smiled. "Yes?"

"Well, after all it's not blackmail if I come voluntarily, is it?"

"No, it's not," she smiled, "So, are you coming?"

"Yeah, ok, but remember that you said that you will buy everything I want at Honeydukes," he said, seriously.

"Ok, but you can't tell anybody that you are going with me, understand?"

"Oh please, I would never say that to anybody. If Malfoy discovered it, he would laugh at me."

Hermione smiled. "See you tomorrow, then. I'll be waiting for you near the gate at exactly 3 p.m., get it?"

Crabbe nodded. "Now, can I go and have breakfast?" Hermione nodded and Crabbe disappeared outside the door without a further word. Hermione looked rather pleased with herself. Now she was ready to attend a couple of hours of Potions with Malfoy.

She walked down the stairs and reached the dungeons again. It was still early and there was nobody outside waiting for Slughorn. Hermione decided to wait inside. She opened the door and walked in the dark classroom. "I was waiting for you," said Draco from a desk in the back of the classroom. Hermione jumped and some of the books that she had in her arms fell on the floor. Draco laughed.

"Can you not make noise, please?" she asked him, kneeling down and picking up the books.

"No, I like to scare you."

"You didn't scare me," she answered, sitting at the first desk and giving him a view of her back.

"Did you ask Crabbe out?"

"No comment."

"You didn't?"

"No comment."

"Oh, well, you still have some time before-"

"Malfoy, will you please mind your own business?"

"Are you a little bit nervous today?"

"No, on the contrary, I'm calm."

"I wouldn't say that."

"It's you that makes me nervous."

"I know," he said smiling, "I always have this effect on girls."

"Oh please, I meant that you get on my nerves," she said, waving her hand.

"Sure, but if you-"

The door burst open and Harry and Ron entered the classroom.

"Hermione, we looked for you everywhere. What are you doing here – with Malfoy?" asked Ron, horrified.

"Nothing," she said, quickly.

"Are you sure?" asked Harry.

"No, Potty, we were having sex, can't you see that?" asked Malfoy.

"How dare you?" asked Harry.

"Harry, Malfoy, stop it," said Hermione, glaring at both them, "Harry, we weren't doing anything but talking, ok?"

"How can you talk to him?" Luckily Hermione didn't have to answer because Slughorn entered the classroom and silence fell upon them.


	8. Saturday

Disclaimer: Oh, yes, I know that I write wonderfully well and that it looks really like I'm J.K. Rowling, but – no please don't throw that chair at me… I was just joking!

A/N: Hey, guys! How are you? As you can see I don't really know what to write in this Author's Note, so I'll just tell you to enjoy the chapter! Oh, yes, just one thing: I think that the end of this chapter is a little too much fluffy, and not enough funny… So I don't like it very much, but maybe you were waiting for that, weren't you? LOL!

To Halo of Darkness: "Halo of Darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again…" ! Sorry, but I really wanted to write this stupid thing! Eh, eh. Thanks for correcting my chapter!

**Saturday**

"Harry, I can't believe that we are not going to Hogsmeade today," said Ron, sitting down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table.

"Ron, I've already told you that we need to practice and Hogsmeade is not-"

"A safe place in a moment like this," Ron finished for him with a sigh, "I know, I know."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, if you know, why do you keep on complaining?"

"It's just that I really, really, really wanted to go to Zonkos," said Ron.

"Oh, Ron, give up that, Harry won't let us go to Hogsmeade," said Ginny, sitting down in front of Harry.

"See? Your sister is more intelligent," said Harry, nodding. Ron sighed.

"It's just that Harry wants to protect the people that he loves," said Ginny, smiling.

"That means that you also love Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke?" asked Ron, surprised.

"It means you and me, idiot," Ginny said, sighing.

"Ginny, don't call Ron an idiot," Harry said laughing.

"What is he then?"

"Never mind," said Harry, quickly.

"Well, anyway, I'm sorry to tell you that you won't have all your friends here tomorrow," said Ginny, starting to giggle.

"No?"

"No. Hermione is going to Hogsmeade."

"Well, when she will know that none of us is going, she won't go, either," said Harry, smiling.

"Oh, no, no. She already knows that and she is going anyway. And she won't be alone," said Ginny, giggling.

"You mean that Hermione is going with somebody?" asked Ron, quickly.

"Yep."

"A boy?" he asked, weakly.

Ginny looked at him. "Maybe."

"Oh, come on Ginny, who is he?" asked Harry, interested.

"I don't know," she said.

"You lie," snapped Ron.

"I don't. I don't know who she is going with," Ginny answered, rudely.

"But you are her best friend. You should know that," said Harry.

Ginny glared at both of them. "Well, I should, but I don't know. She didn't tell me."

"Why?"

"She said that she wasn't sure with whom she was going because she hasn't yet asked him. But that was yesterday."

"Well, ask her today," said Ron, quickly, "By the way, where is Hermione? She won't have lunch?"

"She said that she has planned to eat a lot in Honeydukes," said Ginny shrugging her shoulders, "Oh, but I would give anything to know who she is going with and to watch Draco and Luna together in Hogsmeade," she added, glancing at the Slytherin table on the other side of the Great Hall. Draco was eating his scrambled eggs and regularly glancing at the Ravenclaw table until a quite unpleasant figure stepped in front of him.

"I've just hexed a girl who was saying that you are going to Hogsmeade with Loony Lovegood. Did I do a good job, Drakey?" she asked, smiling.

Draco rolled his eyes. "No, you didn't, because I'm really going with her."

"What?" asked Pansy, looking at him with her eyes wide open, "But, Drakey, what about us?"

"Us? Pansy, there hasn't been an 'us' since our fourth year," said Draco.

"But I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with you," she protested.

"I'm sorry – no, wait I'm not," said Draco, thoughtfully.

"You are evil. You don't care about my feelings," said Pansy, with tears in her eyes.

Draco sighed and looked around. There were too many people around, so he couldn't hex Pansy. Then, he suddenly had an idea.

"You know, Pansy, you are right," he said, trying to sound convincing, "I'm really evil. But, I did all this for a friend."

Pansy wept away the tears from her eyes. "A friend?" she asked, suspiciously.

Draco nodded and signalled for her to lean down. Pansy bent towards him.

"You know, I promised not to tell you, but now I really think that you should know," he whispered into her ear, "There is a boy that wanted to ask you out for this afternoon, but he couldn't find the courage, so I didn't want to ask you out before he did."

Pansy squealed in excitement. "Who is he?"

Draco looked quickly at the Slytherin table, "Blaise," he said, "No, no, don't look at him. He will know that we are talking about him."

Pansy looked back at Draco. "Really?" she asked, brightly.

"Really," said Draco, pleased with himself, "I think that maybe you should go there and talk to him first. Maybe you can even invite him. I think that he will be utterly happy."

Pansy straightened and passed a hand through her hair. "How do I look like?" she asked Draco, distractedly.

"Perfect," he lied, "Oh, Pansy, don't tell him that I told you that, ok?"

Pansy looked at him and smiled. "Don't worry, Drakey."

"Great," he said while she walked away and sat down next to Blaise.

He thought that he was a genius and regretted not to have thought of something like that earlier. Blaise's expression was starting to become slightly horrified as Pansy kept on talking to him. Goyle, who was sitting next to him, was enjoying the scene. He searched for Crabbe, but he found him all alone many seats away from the rest of the group. He was playing with his food, which was unlike him. Draco knew that there was something strange in his comportment. He stood up, walked past Pansy, Blaise and Goyle and sat down next to Crabbe. "You are not eating?" Draco asked, quite surprised.

Crabbe jumped and jerked his head towards Draco. "I-I'm not hungry."

Draco looked at him with his mouth wide open. "What?"

"I've planned to eat a lot in Hogsmeade this afternoon, so I don't want to-"

"Oh, right, about Hogsmeade," said Draco, interrupting him, "Are you planning to go there with somebody? Goyle? Blaise? A girl?"

Crabbe choked, "I-I don't know," he said, slowly.

"Oh, don't tell me that you are going there all alone," said Draco, teasingly. Crabbe shook his head. "Who are you going there with, then?"

"If I tell you, you'll make fun of me," he said, lowering his voice.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I won't."

"You swear?"

"I swear."

"And you won't tell anybody?"

"I won't tell anybody," he said, impatiently.

"I'm going with Hermione Granger," said Crabbe in a barely audible whisper.

Draco couldn't believe his ears; Hermione really did it. "W-what? H-how?"

Crabbe nodded. "She asked me yesterday. Well, it more looked like blackmail than a date at the beginning, but she said that she will buy me everything I want in Honeydukes, so I think that now it's a date."

Draco looked at him, even more surprised. "You can say the word 'blackmail'?" Crabbe nodded again. "Cool, but now if you will excuse me, I have to look for somebody," Draco said, standing up and walking towards the door without a word further.

Hermione didn't show up for lunch. He thought he knew why; she didn't want to meet her friends. Then, she would have to explain why she was going to Hogsmeade with Crabbe and so on. But, he knew where she was.

He walked until the third floor and, almost running, he reached the Library. When he rushed inside, Madam Pince glared at him but said nothing. He found Hermione sitting at the first table all alone with lots of books open in front of her.

"I don't know if it's ok that you blackmailed Crabbe into going out with you," he said, sitting in front of her.

Hermione didn't even look at him. "Luckily, he didn't have to tell it to anybody. Anyway, I haven't blackmailed him."

"He said that at the beginning, you did."

"Well, but now, it's not blackmail anymore. He is happy to come to Hogsmeade with me," she said.

"Oh, yes, when I saw him at lunch, he was the happiest boy on Earth," Draco joked.

"What's the problem, Malfoy?" she snapped, looking at him, "I asked him out and I didn't use magic. You didn't talk about blackmailing and stuff like that when I asked you the rules." Draco mentally kicked himself for his stupidity. "If you are jealous, it's not my fault," added Hermione, trying to hide a smile.

"Jealous? Of Crabbe? Please, don't make me laugh," he said, uncomfortably.

Hermione looked at him maliciously. "Then why do you keep on bothering me about him?"

"I-I wanted to be sure that you haven't broken any rules," he said, looking everywhere but at her.

"I haven't. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go on studying," she said, lowering her eyes to the Transfiguration book.

"Oh, sure," he snapped, standing up, "See you in Hogsmeade, then."

"See you," said Hermione while he was walking out of the Library. When he disappeared outside the door, she sighed. It was almost one P.M. She still had a couple of hours to study before meeting Crabbe.

But, after only an hour and half, she stormed out of the library and headed for the Gryffindor girls dorm where she got ready. She was sure that Crabbe would have noticed her only if she was covered with Licorice Wands, so she didn't spend too much time in choosing her clothes. Hermione wore a pair of jeans, a sweater and a long coat. She found herself walking down the grounds of Hogwarts 20 minutes earlier than she should have. When she passed near the Quidditch Pitch, she heard Harry screaming at Ron. She smiled.

When the gate of Hogwarts came into sight, she saw, with great surprise that Crabbe stood there waiting for her. "You are early," she said, when she approached him.

"I was hungry," he said simply.

"Should we go, then?" she asked, sighing. Crabbe nodded and made his way towards Hogsmeade without waiting for her. Hermione followed him without saying anything. They walked down the hill and reached the first houses of the village.

"Where do you want to go?" Hermione asked him.

He looked at her as if she was from another planet. "Honeydukes, of course," he said.

"Of course," she muttered.

The walked to the main street of the village. Luckily, it was cold that day and there were not so many people around. Everybody seemed to be inside a warm shop. When they passed in front of the Three Broomsticks, Hermione looked inside distractedly and what she saw left her unexpectedly happy.

Draco was sitting at a round table drinking his Butterbeer and looking quite unhappy. At his side, Luna was talking with Padma Patil, who was holding hands with Michael Corner, who was looking at Su Li, who was in deep conversation with Lisa Turpin, who sat next to Mandy Brocklehurst, who was snogging with Stewart Ackerley, who was next to Anthony Goldstein, who was trying to capture Orla Quirke's attention. Orla Quike was, with Draco's great displeasure, looking at him in adoration.

Hermione smiled. That was even better than she would have expected.

"What are you looking at?" asked Crabbe, rudely.

"Look," she said pointing at Draco trough the window, "It looks like our little Head Boy isn't enjoying his visit to Hogsmeade," she said, laughing.

Crabbe smirked. "Yeah, that's funny," he said, looking at him, too, "Let's go now; I'm starving."

They walked to Honeydukes. When they entered, Crabbe looked like a child at Christmas morning. "You wait here," he said to Hermione, "When I'll choose all the things that I want you'll pay them for me," he said walking in the direction of a shelf full of Chocolate Frogs.

Hermione nodded and sat down on a pink chair in front of a pile of Pumpkin Pasties. She decided to buy one of them, just for calming her hunger.

When finally Crabbe walked towards her, she really hoped that the money that she had with her would have been enough. He was barely visible under a mountain of sweets of all sorts.

"I'm ready," he said from behind the mass.

Hermione gulped, "Ok," she said in a high tone of voice.

She bought everything, and, astonishingly, she received a couple of Knuts in change.

"Now we can sit down and you can watch me while I eat my sweets," said Crabbe, trying to put all the bonbons in his pockets.

"Yeah, but let's go out," said Hermione, watching a group of Gryffindors that entered the shop, "There are too many people here."

"I want to stay here," protested Crabbe.

Hermione picked up a bunch of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and waved them in front of Crabbe. "If you don't follow me out, I won't give these back to you," she said, fiercely.

Crabbe glared at her. "Ok, but don't joke on these things," he said, seriously. Hermione sighed and exited the shop with Crabbe behind her. "Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere where nobody can find us," she said looking around.

"And where I can sit down, because I hate to eat on my feet," said Crabbe.

"This way, then," said Hermione, passing by the last houses of the village.

They were walking some feet away from each other, so that, if somebody saw them, they wouldn't have seemed to be together. But when they passed by Parvati and Lavender, the girls started to giggle. Hermione sighed and walked faster.

"Where are we going?" asked Crabbe, starting to sweat.

"You'll see."

They reached a small clearing. The Shrieking Shack was visible in the distance. A big rock could serve as a seat.

"Here you are," said Hermione, sitting down and patting the space next to her.

Crabbe rolled his eyes. He would have been happier to sit in the warmth of Honeydukes on a soft armchair but he sat down anyway because Hermione still held his in her hand. "Can I have them back, now?"

Hermione sighed and threw the sweets into his arms. He took them and started to eat in silence. It looked like he could have gone on eating forever, he started with sweet fruits, then sugary ones, and finally, he attacked the chocolate.

Hermione looked at him with her mouth wide open. That boy must have had a stomach big as a trunk.

At that very time, Hermione's stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten since that very morning and that Pumpkin Pasty wasn't exactly a meal. With her great surprise, Crabbe handed her a Chocolate Frog.

"What? For me?" she asked, looking at him.

"I don't want you to die of hunger," he said, quickly.

"Thank you," she said, smiling. He didn't answer. "What are we gonna do now?" she asked him when she finished the Chocolate Frog.

"I don't know," said Crabbe, uncertainly, but he seriously hoped that she wouldn't suggest something like a walk.

"We can talk," she proposed.

"Hmmm, ok," he said. After all, it wasn't very bad; he just had to nod and say yes when she stopped to talk. He didn't even have to listen to her.

"I know that you are taking Herbology, this year," she said. Crabbe nodded. "Have you already done the last homework?" she asked him, "What do you think? I mean, come on, how can Professor Sprout ask something like that? I mean, even first years know that Hellebore is used for potions against evil spells and for invisibility."

Crabbe nodded, not even knowing what a Hellebore was. "No, seriously, why have you invited me today?" he asked, cutting off Hermione while she was talking about the proprieties of all the plants that she knew.

Hermione looked at him taken back. "What?"

"It looks almost like everybody is out of his mind," he said, matter-of-factly, "First Malfoy invites Loony Lovegood out, then you invite me."

"Well, I invited you because I like you," she lied, feeling rather guilty.

Crabbe looked at her, his face as red as Ron's hair. Either he was embarrassed, or he was having indigestion.

"You know, I've liked you for a lot since-"

Crabbe fell to the ground on his knees and brought his hands to his stomach, yelling in pain. Hermione sighed. He was actually having indigestion. She kneeled down next to him and pointed her wand to his stomach, murmuring a simple spell. He recovered almost immediately; Hermione helped him to get to his feet.

"How do you feel? You might have eaten too many-"

But, she was cut off once more. This time, Crabbe was pressing his lips against hers and hugging her. They were so sugary that she felt the urge to throw up what she had eaten, but tried to resist. She closed her eyes and imagined that she was kissing Draco. Luckily, she had quite a lot of imagination.

She was starting to think that Crabbe would never let her go when she heard someone screaming. A second later Crabbe was levitating upside down in front of her. She turned quickly towards the source of the scream and saw that Draco was standing some feet away from them with his wand pointed at Crabbe. "Malfoy! What do you think you are doing?" asked Hermione with her hands on her hips.

Draco looked at her with an upset expression on his face. "He was kissing you," he whispered.

"Let him down, now," she snapped.

"He was kissing you," repeated Draco.

"I know that," she said, waving a hand in front of him, "Now let him down!"

"Why?" asked Draco.

"Because he will throw up all the sweets that he had eaten and that won't be a nice show," said Hermione, matter-of-factly.

"No," said Draco, angrily, "Why was he kissing you?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Let him down," she said calmly, stepping towards him.

Draco rolled his eyes and broke the connection, causing Crabbe to fall on the ground.

"Ouch," he said when he bounced on the ground with his stomach.

Hermione kneeled down next to him. "Are you ok?" she asked Crabbe, helping him to stand up. He nodded glancing at Draco with a fearful look. "It's better if you go back to Hogwarts and maybe pay a visit to Madam Pomfrey," suggested Hermione. Crabbe nodded again and sprinted away followed by the murderous glare of Draco. When he disappeared behind the trees, Hermione turned her head towards Draco, looking simply furious. "What's your problem?"

"What's my problem? What's your problem, you mean," he snapped back.

"Excuse me?"

"I thought that you would at least thank me."

"Thank you?" Hermione was bemused.

"Crabbe was kissing you. I did you a favour," he said, bitterly.

"Shouldn't you be with Luna?" asked Hermione, suddenly.

Draco glared at her. "I was tired of all those Ravenclaws and went out for a walk and I have to say that I did the right thing."

"No, you didn't."

"Granger, if you have not yet noticed, Vincent Crabbe was kissing you."

"Oh, really, Malfoy? Luckily, you pointed it out. I didn't notice that," she said, sarcastically.

"How could you have-?"

"Aren't you forgetting something? We made a bet; remember that? – Oh wait," she said, realising something, "You dumped Luna and, naturally, you are not going to win, but you don't want me to win as well."

"What?" Draco looked at her taken back. It wasn't the real reason for what he did. He had just seen Crabbe kissing Hermione and he felt terribly bad, without even knowing why. "I didn't dump Luna. I temporarily left her in the Three Broomsticks," he said, sharply.

"Yeah of course," said Hermione, raising her eyebrows again.

"But that's not the matter – you were kissing Crabbe," he repeated, indignantly.

"You chose him for me," screamed Hermione.

"How can you kiss him?" asked Draco, ignoring her.

"You really want to know?" said Hermione glaring at him. Draco nodded. "While he was kissing me, I was imagining kissing you," she said, storming away towards the castle, leaving a stunned Draco behind her.


	9. Sunday

Disclaimer: If I were J.K. Rowling I wouldn't have written a Dramione fan fiction, would I? No, I don't think so.

A/N: Oh, well, before you start to send angry reviews with very bad, bad things written in them, let me explain why this chapter is so short! Well, there's not an explanation at all, I just felt like writing a short chapter with a cliffy end (oh, I love cliffy ends… ), eh, eh! Well, enjoy the short chapter, and TTFN! Oh what a stupi Author's Note I wrote... Cool!

To Halo of Darkness: Thanks a lot for reviewing this chapter and for being so nice!

**Sunday**

When Ginny entered the Great Hall on Sunday morning, she was extremely surprised because of all the people that were there so early. But, she wasn't surprised at all to see Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table all alone. She walked quickly towards her and sat down next to her. "Good morning, Hermione," she said cheerfully.

Hermione looked at her and smiled weakly. "Good morning, Ginny."

"Hey, what's that sad face for? Weren't you happy with your date yesterday?"

Hermione choked and had to drink some pumpkin juice to recover. "M-my date?" she asked hoarsely.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, you were going with someone to Hogsmeade and I didn't even have the chance to talk to you last night."

"Yeah, well, actually, I-"

"Hey, Hermione," Ron and Harry greeted her and sat in front of her and Ginny.

"Hey, Ron, Harry," she said depressingly.

"What's wrong?" asked Ron, smiling. "You didn't have fun yesterday at Hogsmeade with your new boyfriend?"

"M-my boyfriend?" asked Hermione stunned. She turned towards Ginny. "What did you tell them?"

Ginny smiled. "Just that you went to Hogsmeade with someone, that's all. I swear." Hermione nodded.

"So?" asked Harry, interested.

"So – what?"

"How did your date go?"

"Actually, it wasn't a date and-"

"Hey, you know what's funny?" asked Ginny, cutting her off. Hermione shook her head.

"Parvati and Lavender said that you were walking around Hogsmeade with Crabbe," she said, laughing.

Hermione paled. "They never mind their own business, do they?" she muttered.

"What?" asked Ginny, leaning down towards her.

"Nothing. I was saying that they are really silly sometimes, aren't they?" she said, forcing a smile.

"Yeah," said Ginny, eyeing her suspiciously, then she smiled widely towards the door of the Great Hall and waved her hands over her head. Everybody looked at the door where Luna had just entered. "Luna, Luna!" Ginny called her.

"Oh, hi, Ginny," said Luna dreamily, "Hermione, Ron, Harry."

"Hi, Luna," everybody chorused.

"Sit down, Luna. I want to hear everything about yesterday," said Ginny, pushing Hermione away.

Luna sat down. "Oh, well, there's not really much to talk about," she said, smiling.

"What? What happened with Malfoy?" asked Harry.

"Nothing, he left me in the Three Broomsticks," she said simply.

"What?" asked Ginny, "He left you there all alone?"

"Oh, no. I wasn't alone; there were lots of other people."

"And where did he go?"

"I don't know, but when I met him at dinner, he was really upset and said that he was sorry-"

"Sorry?" asked Ron, shocked.

"Yeah, and that he had just realised that I wasn't the right girl. I think that he is in love with someone else," said Luna, giggling.

"And it took him only an afternoon to realise that?" asked Ginny, bewildered. "Where are you going, Hermione?"

Hermione had just jumped to her feet. "I need to take a walk," she said, walking towards the door. Ginny and Luna followed her with their eyes.

"I wander where she is going," said Ron with his mouth full of eggs.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Look," said Ginny, pointing her finger towards the door. Crabbe was looking around furtively and nervously. When he was sure that nobody was following him, he exited as well. Seconds later, Draco went after him. "Let's go," said Ginny to Luna, sitting up at once.

"Hey, wait for us," said Harry, "Hurry up, Ron."

Ron left half of his breakfast that was still in the plate against his will and followed the strange crowd of people that apparently was going after Hermione.


	10. That's It

Disclaimer: All you recognize (actually everything except the plot) is not mine, it's J.K.R.!

A/N: Oh, I like this chapter. I know it's a stupid way to start an Author's Note, but I really like this chapter. By the way, we are close to end of the story: next chapter will be the last one. Hmmm, I had to write something important in this A/N, but I can't quite remember what. Oh, yeah! I had to tell you that what started as a funny story is slowly turning into a fluffy one, sorry for that. Well, I really hope that you'll enjoy this chappie in any case.

To Halo of Darkness: Thanks for being my beta-reader and my friend.

**That's It**

Hermione walked down the grounds of Hogwarts. She didn't really know where she was going, she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. The morning breeze was cold but she didn't care. She passed Hagrid's hut and reached the Forbidden Forest. Hermione didn't mean to do anything stupid. She was searching for a place where nobody would have disturbed her. She sat down on a big stone near the trees and breathed deeply.

"Hey, Granger!"

Hermione sighed. She had just sat down and someone has already found her. She opened her eyes and saw Crabbe walking slowly towards her.

"Crabbe?" she exclaimed, surprised.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"Fine, thanks," she answered, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Very, well," he said, smiling.

"What are you doing here, Crabbe?" she asked him, sitting up.

"I followed you," he admitted.

"You did what? Why?"

"Because I have to talk to you," he said, stepping towards her.

"Talk to me about what exactly?"

"About yesterday," he said, coming nearer to her.

Hermione sighed. "Crabbe, yesterday, it was all a-"

"Call me Vincent," he said with a smile.

Hermione looked at him. "Oh, you know your name. Malfoy told me that you didn't," she said thoughtfully.

"You hang out a lot with Malfoy, don't you?" he asked quickly.

Hermione gulped. "We are Heads and we have to do things together."

"Yeah, that what he always says," said Crabbe, stepping towards her again, but this time, Hermione started to take a step back.

"Anyway," he said, smiling, "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

"You already said that and I was trying to tell you that yesterday was a mistake," she said again.

"Did you know, Hermione, that you are the first girl that I kissed?"

"Really?" asked Hermione without any surprise.

"Yeah, and it was the best kiss I ever received," he stated, coming closer to her.

Hermione took another step back, "It was the only kiss you ever received, Crabbe," she said, stressing the word 'only'.

Crabbe seemed to think about that. "Yeah, but it was great anyway," he said after a while.

"Well, yeah, thank you, but you see, I came here to stay a little bit alone and-"

"Oh, but I came here because you were alone," he said, smiling.

"Really?" Hermione started to have a very unpleasant feeling.

"Yeah, I know that I'm important to you," he said, stepping towards her. Hermione took another step back, but this time, she knocked into the trunk of a tree.

"Really?"

"You saved my life."

"No, see it was just-"

"Twice."

"Twice?" she asked puzzled.

"You stopped Malfoy," he said, stepping again towards her. He was getting dangerously close.

"Oh, well, he would have never killed you," she said slowly.

"You don't know him," he said, getting so near to her that their faces were now just inches away.

"Crabbe," said Hermione, trying to push him away.

"Please, call me Vincent," he repeated, "And now, I wanted to thank you."

"What do you want to do to me?"

"Just thank you," he said, smiling maliciously.

"Well, you have done that, now you can go," she said weakly.

"I love you," he said quickly.

"I-I don't," said Hermione without thinking.

He let out a small laugh. "I don't mind." Hermione tried to walk to her right, but Crabbe stretched out his left arm and stopped her, then he grabbed her left arm.

"Cra – Vincent, let me go," she said, looking at him imploringly. Her wand was in her pocket, but he would have stopped her if she tried to pick it up.

"Not before I've thanked you in the right way," he said, leaning down to kiss her. Hermione moved her face away, but Crabbe grabbed her chin and forced her to stay still. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears, waiting for an unwanted kiss. But luckily, that kiss never arrived.

Hermione heard some people screaming and then, with a loud bang, she felt that Crabbe was flying away. When she opened her eyes, she saw a bunch of people running towards her. Draco was in the front, followed by Ginny, Luna, Harry and Ron.

"Granger," said Draco, stopping in front of her, "How are you?"

"Get off, Malfoy," said Ron, pulling him away. Draco looked at him with a murderous glare.

"Hermione, how are you?" asked Ginny, concerned.

"I-I'm fine," she stammered then, she looked at Crabbe who lied on the ground unconscious.

"What spell did you use on him?" she asked, worried.

They all looked at each other. "Well, everybody used a different spell," said Harry.

"For example?"

"I Stupefied him," said Harry.

"Ron and I used the Petrificus Totalus spell," said Ginny, while Ron nodded.

"I used the Expelliarmus spell," said Luna dreamily. Everybody looked at her.

"But he didn't have his wand," pointed out Harry.

Luna smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "You never know."

"And you?" Hermione asked Draco, fearing the worst, "You didn't use an Unforgivable Curse, did you?"

"Oh, yeah, Granger, I'm so stupid that I would use an Unforgivable Curse," said Draco sharply. Hermione sighed in relief. "I Stupefied him, like Potter."

Hermione lowered her eyes. "Thank you."

"Hermione, why was Crabbe about to kiss you?" asked Ron, coming nearer to her.

Hermione reddened. "Well, because I-"

"Yesterday, you went out with him," exclaimed Ginny.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and burst into laughter. "Don't be silly, Ginny," said Harry. Hermione's face became a bright magenta colour. Harry looked at her and his laughter faded away. "You didn't go out with him yesterday, did you?" he asked, lowering his voice.

"Actually, I did," she said quickly.

Harry and Ron looked at her with their mouths wide open. "You did – why?" asked Ron who couldn't believe his ears.

Hermione looked at Draco. "I cannot say that," she said quickly.

"You cannot say why you went out with Crabbe?" asked Harry, "Why?"

"Because-"

"Because I made her promise not to tell to anybody," Draco cut her off.

Everybody looked at him. "What's going on?" asked Harry suspiciously.

Draco looked Hermione. "I think that we can talk now," he said matter-of-factly, "The bet is over."

"Bet?" asked Ron.

Hermione sighed. "It's better if I explain everything, then," she said, looking at them. Draco nodded. "Well, I don't know really where to start-"

"Why don't you try from the beginning?" asked Ginny, smiling.

"Yeah, maybe you are right," said Hermione, biting her lips, "Well, first of all you have to know that Malfoy and I are more then-"

"Enemies?" asked Ron, hopefully.

"Head Boy and Head Girl?" asked Harry.

"Friends?" asked Ginny, smiling mischievously.

"Lovers?" asked Luna, calmly.

"Luna, don't be silly. How can they be more than lovers?" said Ginny, smiling.

"Well, maybe they have married in secret and now are husband and wife," she explained dreamily.

"What? No, no, Luna, nothing like that," said Hermione quickly, "But actually, we are more than friends."

"Hermione, you don't mean that-" the words died in Ron's throat. Hermione nodded. Ron paled and Harry with him.

"I knew that there was something going on between the two of you," said Ginny triumphantly.

"You knew and you didn't tell us?" asked Harry bemused.

"Would you have believed me?" she retorted sharply. Harry thought for a while and then shook his head. Ginny smiled. "See? Now, Hermione, can you please go on?"

Hermione nodded. "Well, it all started last week. Malfoy and I were – well – having fun and-"

"What do you mean by 'having fun'?" asked Ron hoarsely.

"Oh, Ron, they were eating Chocolate Frogs and playing Wizarding Chess – what do you think they were doing?" asked Ginny, rolling her eyes.

"I think that they were having sex," said Luna matter-of-factly.

Hermione became even redder. "Yeah, well, thank you Luna. Anyway, after having had fun, we started to talk about boyfriends and girlfriends. He said that he had more experiences than me and I said that that was not true, so we started to list all our former partners and – that's funny – we discovered that we had the same number of well experiences."

"Hermione, how many boyfriends did you have?" asked Ron, glancing at her.

"Seven," muttered Hermione.

"What? And who are they?" asked Ron quickly.

"Never mind that, now, Ron," said Ginny, cutting him off, "I'll tell you later if you really want to know."

"Thank you, Ginny," said Hermione sarcastically.

"You are welcome," she said smiling.

"Hermione, just go on, please," said Harry, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, yes, sorry. Well, the fact is that we made a bet: the first that would have won someone's heart won the bet. Malfoy had to win Luna's heart and I, Crabbe's," she said.

"What? Who chose that?"

"Malfoy chose Crabbe for me and I chose Luna for him," she looked at Luna, "I'm really sorry, Luna. I didn't mean to do anything bad to you. I was just really, really angry with him for picking Crabbe for me," she said sheepishly.

Luna smiled. "Oh, don't worry, Hermione," she said reassuringly, "I've earned a free Butterbeer because Draco paid for it and then I finally realized that I'm in love with someone because when I was in the Three Broomsticks with Draco, I thought only about a Gryffindor boy," said Luna dreamily.

"Who?" asked Ginny quickly.

Luna's smile became wider. "Neville."

Draco turned a unpleasant green colour. "You were thinking about Longbottom while you were out with me?" he asked unbelievingly.

"I'm sure you were thinking about Hermione," said Luna smiling. Now it was Draco's turn to blush, along with Hermione. "Anyway, who won?" asked Luna, breaking the silence that had fallen upon them.

"What?" asked Hermione, without understanding immediately what she was talking about.

"The bet. Who won the bet?"

Hermione looked at Draco. "Oh, well, I think that nobody won," said Hermione slowly.

"You won," said Draco seriously.

"No, I didn't. He kissed me and said that he loved me, but we didn't-"

"What do you think he would have done to you if we didn't interfere? Sit down and talk about 'Hogwarts: A History'?" asked Draco rudely. Hermione lowered her eyes.

"Cool, Hermione, you won!" said Luna, clapping her hands.

Everybody looked at her. Then, Ron glanced at Hermione. "I can't believe that you are going out with Malfoy," he said angrily.

"W-we are not going out," she stammered, "We just-" but she couldn't find anything intelligent to say.

"You just have sex," said Ginny smiling, "But, Hermione, with Draco Malfoy."

Hermione looked at her. "Oh well, if I'm not wrong, you went out with him, too."

Ginny looked at Draco. "Luckily, it was a secret."

"I had to list my girlfriends," he answered simply.

"You went out with him?" asked Harry, who was looking at Ginny as if she was from another planet.

"Yeah, at the beginning of this year, but it was only for a week. It didn't work between us," she said matter-of-factly.

"Luckily," muttered Harry. Ron didn't have the force to say anything.

"Well, I think that we should take Crabbe to the Hospital Wing," said Hermione.

"We'll bring him there. You'll have to talk," said Ginny smiling.

Hermione looked at Draco. "Yeah, maybe we have to talk."

"Let's go then," Ginny said, elbowing Ron who wasn't going to move.

"B-before you go, I have to ask you one thing," said Hermione slowly, "Can you please keep the secret between us?"

"Of course," said Ginny.

"Like I would go around saying that my friend is in love with Malfoy," snapped Harry before he walked away. Ron simply nodded and Luna smiled.

Hermione and Draco looked at them while they levitated Crabbe in front of them and climbed the hill up the castle. "Do you think that they will say something?" asked Draco.

"No, didn't you hear them? They are my friends," said Hermione smiling.

"Well, if it was my friends I would have to pay them to keep their mouths shut," said Draco.

Hermione smiled. "Thank you," she said softly.

He looked at her puzzled. "Thank you for what?"

"For saving me from Crabbe," she said, lowering her eyes.

"Well, sure," he said quite uncomfortably.

After ten long minutes of an awkward silence, Hermione spoke, "Should we go back to the castle?"

"Yeah, we better go," said Draco, walking towards Hogwarts.

When they reached the oak door, Draco stopped. "Granger?" he said.

"Yes, Malfoy?" she said, turning her face towards him.

"I was thinking, do you have something to do tomorrow evening?"

"Apart from the meeting with Professor McGonagall?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, bloody hell, I forgot," he murmured.

"Can I remind you that you promised to me that you would never forget another meeting again?" she said bossily.

"I won't," he said, pushing the door.

"Malfoy?" she called shyly.

"Yeah?"

"But if you want, on Tuesday evening, I'm free," she said smiling.

Draco smiled back. "Same place, same hour?"

"Same place, same hour."

They headed to their own common rooms smiling and starting to count down the hours until Tuesday night.


	11. I Think I'm in Love with You

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, even if I really wished he was. Anyway, this time I don't own even the title of the chapter, because it's a Jessica Simpson song.

A/N: Oh, my gosh. This is the last chapter, that's so sad. I was starting to enjoy this fan fiction. I really found a quick beta-reader, this time. I've already said in my 'Disclaimer' that the title of this chapter is a song, well, you have to know that I have this thing: in every ff I write there must be a chapter whose title is a song. I know, it's stupid. Anyway, I'm tempted to copy and paste the Author's Note of my other story, because basically I have to write the same things I wrote there, but I'll try to change something. Well, first of all I don't think that I will write a sequel to this story – sorry to all the people that asked – but I don't have any ideas for a sequel and I wouldn't know what to write. Plus, I have so many ideas in my mind, that I wouldn't find the time anyway for writing a sequel. Second, I wanted to thank you. Yeah, you that are reading at this very moment, thanks for reading this story. And then, thanks to all the people that put this story in their Alerts list and in their Favourites list. And last, but not least, a very big thank you to all the people that reviewed, your reviews really made my day. Well, I hate to beg for reviews, but if I'll say this I don't think that it's exactly begging. If you feel like leaving a review, and it's about year 3000 and the aliens have invaded the Earth or Voldy has won the Battle against Harry Potter, leave it anyway, I swear that I'll find the way to read it! And I'll also reply to them (if you want me to!)! – Wow, I wrote the word 'review' quite a lot of times, any suggestion for a synonym? – Well, I think I bored you enough, sorry! But it was my last A/N to this story. Thanks again, you are all so nice. Enjoythe chapter!LOL!

To Halo of Darkness: I'll miss sending you the chapters of "The Bet" as well, you are a great beta-reader. I don't know what I would have done without you.

**I Think I'm in Love with You**

"Hermione is going out with Malfoy," said Ron, looking blankly in front of him.

"Will you stop it?" hissed Ginny, looking around the Gryffindor common room. "Someone will hear you."

Ron looked at her. "Hermione is going out with Malfoy," he repeated.

Ginny sighed. Luckily, Parvati and Lavender were deep in conversation over the last number of Witch Weekly and didn't hear Ron.

"Hermione is going out with Malfoy."

"Ron! Stop it, she is not going out with him. They just – well – they are having fun," said Ginny.

Ron looked at her. "You were going out with Malfoy." Ginny rolled her eyes and dove behind her Transfiguration book.

"Hey, Ginny, Ron," Harry sat down heavily on the armchair near Ginny and slammed his books on the table.

"Hi, Harry," said Ginny, looking at him over her book. Ron didn't answer. He nodded, looking at Harry without expression.

"Ron, is everything alright?" asked Harry, opening his Potions book.

"If you are going to study, you shouldn't get your hopes up," said Ginny, smiling.

"Why? I have so much Potions homework that I think that I could go on all night long," said Harry bitterly.

"Hermione is going out with Malfoy," said Ron calmly.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "He didn't get over it yet?" he asked Ginny.

She shook her head. "Nope, and I don't think that he will stop anytime soon."

"Well, it was a little bit of shock, wasn't it?" asked Harry matter-of-factly.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. If you ask me, it was quite clear that there was something going on between the two of them."

"Oh, yeah of course," said Harry sarcastically, "What is that? Female intuition?"

"Maybe," she answered vaguely.

"Oh, no, wait – I almost forgot, you went out with Malfoy as well," said Harry sullenly.

"Are you jealous?" asked Ginny teasingly.

Harry snorted, but didn't answer, causing Ginny to smile behind her book.

"Hermione is going out with Malfoy."

"Stop it, Ron, don't you have any homework to do?" asked Harry. Ron nodded and mechanically opened his Potions book.

"I can't understand anything," said Harry after a while, "Where is Hermione, by the way?"

"Hermione is going out with Malfoy," said Ron without thinking.

"Thank you, Ron," said Harry rolling his eyes, "No, I mean now. Where is she?"

Ginny smiled. "Well, Harry, this time Ron is right. Hermione is with Malfoy."

"What?" asked Harry in disbelief, "But, she was with him yesterday evening, too."

"Yesterday evening they had to meet Professor McGonagall. But tonight, they are-"

"Okay, I don't want to know," said Harry quickly.

Ginny smiled mischievously. "Hermione said that they have to speak. Oh yeah, I'm sure that they are going to use their tongues a lot."

"You are very funny, Ginny, you know that?" asked Harry sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know that, thank you," she answered smiling.

"Now, if you don't mind, I would like to try to do my homework, even if Hermione is not here," said Harry firmly. Ginny shrugged her shoulders again.

"Hermione is going out with Malfoy."

"Ron!" Harry and Ginny exclaimed together.

Hermione walked in front of the piece of blank wall three times. 'I have to get there, I have to get there, I have to get there,' she thought intensely.

The door of the Room of Requirement appeared in front of her. She breathed deeply and pushed it open, paying attention so that nobody would have seen her.

The room was empty; Draco was not yet there. No surprise, though. She was half an hour early. She walked to the bed and sat down, her hands in her lap, her eyes fixed on the door.

'What if he doesn't come?' she thought after a while, 'What if he doesn't give a damn about me? He is Draco Malfoy, after all.' She imagined herself waiting for him for the whole night and he didn't come. He hadn't spoken to her in the last two days, had not even greeted her. Maybe that was a message. She just had to read between the lines.

But, at that very moment, the door opened, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts. Draco entered and when he spotted her sitting on the bed, he lowered his eyes. "Er – hi," he said, stepping towards her.

"Hi," she said, looking anywhere but at him.

"You are early," he told her.

"You too," she pointed out.

Draco shrugged his shoulders and sat down next to her. "I like the way this room is furnished."

Hermione glanced at him. "It's the same as always. And it follows our desires."

Draco turned slightly red. "That's why I like it."

Hermione nodded. They sat there for a while without speaking. Sometimes, they let out a small sigh or snort, but no one started a conversation for quite a long time. Finally, Hermione spoke. "Is there a reason that you avoided me these past couple of days?" she asked weakly.

"I avoided you? I didn't notice that," he answered quickly.

"You did. Actually, it's since Sunday that you are not speaking to me."

"We spoke last evening."

"We had to discuss the new rules for the protection of the school. That's not exactly a conversation."

"What do you want to talk about, then?" he asked, looking at her.

"I don't know," said Hermione, lowering her eyes, "I'm a bit confused."

"Confused? About what, exactly?"

"Well, about us," she said softly.

"U-us?" stammered Draco, taken back.

"T-there's no us?" asked Hermione, looking at him with her eyes wide open.

"No – yes – I mean, I don't know. I think that there is, but it's just that, I mean, I don't know. Maybe, but you know-" he was speaking so quickly that he could hardly understand himself.

"I-I didn't mean to say anything bad," Hermione interrupted him, "I was just thinking about what happened and-"

"You think too much," said Draco. Hermione looked at him and noticed that his cheeks reddened.

"I know, everybody tells me that," she said, smiling weakly.

"What happened?" asked Draco suddenly.

Hermione looked at him as if he was from another planet. "Sunday morning, Crabbe-"

"I know that," said Draco, waving a hand in front of her, "I meant, what happened between us. Why are we so embarrassed?"

"Y-you are embarrassed?" asked Hermione.

"W-why? You are not?" he felt like he had said something wrong.

"I am," she admitted quickly.

Draco sighed in relief. "Well, why are we so embarrassed then? Last week, it was all different. I wasn't feeling like this."

Hermione nodded. "Me, too."

"Then what happened?"

Hermione lowered her eyes. "I've got a theory, but I don't know if I'm right or wrong."

"Well, since I'm pretty clueless, just share it."

"You have to swear that you won't laugh," she said, already starting to blush.

Draco smirked. "I swear," he said unconvincingly.

Hermione glanced at him. "I-I'm starting to feel something for you," she said softly.

"Something?" asked Draco, looking at her.

"Yeah, I-I think that I'm in love with you," she said the last words in a faint whisper.

Draco's eyes opened wide. Pansy told him that she loved him almost every day until she started to fancy Blaise who wasn't happy at all, but the way Hermione told it to him was so different. So real. Like he could really feel her love through her words.

"Draco?" asked Hermione, calling him by his first name for the first time.

"I think I'm in love with you, too," he said, looking at his hands.

Hermione smiled. "That's why we are so embarrassed, then."

"What do you mean?"

"Last week, we weren't in love with each other. It's that we care about each other and that's so strange."

"Oh," was all Draco could say. Then, he slowly placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her slightly closer to him. Hermione laid her head on his shoulder and placed her arm around his back.

"Did you visit Crabbe in the Hospital Wing?" she asked him.

"No, if I go there, I'll kill him," he said simply.

"Hope you don't. I don't want to have to bring you oranges in Azkaban," said Hermione, smiling.

"When will he get out of the Hospital Wing?"

"He has to stay there for a week. Madam Pomfrey said that we were lucky that he is the size of a whale because he had been hit by too many spells."

"I'll talk to him – just talk, I swear," he added, looking at Hermione, "I simply don't want him around you."

"Thank you," she said softly, "So, should we make that thing official?"

"What thing?"

"That you and I – well, are going out together?"

"I don't know. We are Head Boy and Head Girl. I mean, everybody expects us to be together but I've never heard of a Slytherin and a Gryffindor that got together," he said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, me too," she said sighing, "Just let's keep it to ourselves."

Draco nodded. "Ok, then. Well, can we start to make out now?"

Hermione freed herself from his arm and glared at him. "You just had to ruin the most romantic moment of my life, didn't you?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders and smirked. "What did you expect? I'm a Slytherin." Hermione sighed but smiled. "I take it as a 'yes'?" he asked, coming nearer to Hermione.

"Yes," she said, while he started to kiss her.

That night, they didn't come back to their dorms. And while they were making love, they knew that that time, there was something different between them, something that they have missed.

It was love. They were really in love with each other.

- The End -


End file.
